E449 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



DDDD17H053E 



I 






•• ^^"^ 94.*^^" A? ^<f^ "^* ^^J^ .. ^ 






i". -^t-o^ 






* -0* 






*^. 









♦ 

r «'•«>* 









--'-^ 



■P* .»: 



» o 



r. "-^^0^ :mm;' -o/ r 






^''■n^^ V 









^ vh/JIak* *x^ '^ •©US* -«/ ^ «>vJOi 






r.' aO' ''^ ♦-••• ** 






A°^ .^ 















V*^ 



^^ •-'^aB?/ J'''^^ ".^^^^z >" ^. V 







o > 



^<&'* ^0 o/. • ♦ . ^^ 



<> ♦-TV.* 












-Wo ^v<»^ 






1^^'' 
^^\ 



%<& 



^ 



c^'.^ 









^3S^ 



N e 










K-^^ 



^ ^ 






TWENTY-FIRST THOUSAND. 



THE 

BROTHERHOOD OF THIEVES; 

OR, 

A TRUE PICTURE 

OK THK 

AMERICAN CHURCH AND CLERGY: 

A LETTER 

TO 

NATHANIEL BARNEY, 
OF NANTUCKET. 



By STEPHEN S. FOSTER. 



CONCORD, N. H. : 

!• A R K E K r I L L S B U K Y . 

SiNCJLK Copies, 25 Cents; Five Copies, One Dollar. 

[ESH5H5H5H5E5HSH5H5H5HEfHSHHEHE5HSrH5H5HSH£J 



THE 



BROTHERHOOD OF THIEVES; 



A TRUE PICTURE 



AMERICAN CHURCH AND CLERGY: 



A LETTER 



NATHANIEL BARNEY 



OP NANTUCKET. 



By STEPHEN S. FOSTER. 



CONCORD, N. H. : 

PARKER PILLSBURY. 

Single Copies, 25 Cents; Five Copies, One Dollar. 
1884. 



In B-:ck ^^ti 
Cornell Univ, 

9 Fob 06 



LETTER. 



Esteemed Friend : 

In the early part of last autumn, I received a letter 
from you, requesting me to prepare an article for the 
press, in vindication of the strong language of denuncia- 
tion of the American church and clergy, which I employed 
at the late Anti-Slavery Convention on your island, and 
which was the occasion of the disgraceful mob, which 
disturbed and broke up that meeting. In my answer, I 
gave you assurance of prompt compliance wdth your re- 
quest; but, for reasons satisfactory to myself, I have failed 
to fulfil my promise up to the present time. The novelty 
of the occasion has now passed away ; the deep and ma- 
lignant passions which were stirred in the bosoms of no 
inconsiderable portion of your people, have, doubtless, 
subsided ; but the important facts connected with it are 
yet fresh in the memories of all ; and, as the occasion was 
one of general, not local, interest, and the spirit which 
was there exhibited was a fair specimen of the general 
temper and feeling of our country towards the advocates 
of equal rights and impartial justice, I trust it will not be 
deemed amiss in me to make it a subject of public notice, 
even at this late period. 

But in the remarks which I propose to make, it will be 
no part of my object to vindicate myself in the opinion of 
the public, against the foul aspersions of those whose 
guilty quiet my preaching may have disturbed. Indeed, 
to tell the truth, I place a very low estimate on the good 
opinions of my countrymen — quite as low, I think, as 
they do on mine, if I may judge from their very great 
anxiety to have me speak well of them, which I positively 
never can, so long as their national capital is a human 
flesh-mart, and their chief magistrate is a slave-breeder. 
The most that I can do is to pledge myself never to mob 
them, nay, that I will not even be displeased with them, 
for speaking ill of me, while their character remains what 
it now is. My opponents, among whom rank most of the 



church and clergy of the country, have disturbed a major- 
ity of the meetings which I have attended, within the last 
nine months, by drunken, murderous mobs, and in several 
instances, they have inflicted severe injury upon my 
person ; but I value this violence and outrage as proof of 
their deep conviction of the truth and power of what I 
say. I deem the reproach of such men sufficient praise. 
And I here tender them my thanks for the high compli- 
ment they have so often paid to my opinions, in the ex- 
treme measures to which they have resorted to compel me 
to speak in their praise. But so long as their character 
remains such that I can bestow no commendations, I shall 
ask none in return. 

Nor is it my intention in this letter, to weaken, by ex- 
planations, the force of my testimony against the popular 
religion of our country, for the purpose of allaying the 
bloody spirit of persecution which has of late character- 
ized the opposition to my course. True, my life is in 
danger, especially whenever I attempt to utter my senti- 
ments in houses dedicated to what is called the worship 
of God ; but He who has opened to my view other worlds, 
in which to reap the rewards and honors of a life of toil 
and suffering in the cause of truth and human freedom 
in this has taught me to " be not afraid of them that kill 
the body, and after that have no more that they can do." 
Hence I have no pacificatory explanations to offer, no 
coward disclaimers to make. But I shall aim to present 
to the comprehension of the humblest individual, into 
whose hands this letter may chance to fall, a clear and 
comprehensive view of the intrinsic moral character of 
that class of our countrymen who claim our respect and 
veneration, as ministers and followers of the Prince of 
Peace. I am charged with having done them great injus- 
tice in my public lectures, on that and various other 
occasions. Many of those, who make this charge, doubt- 
less, honestly think so. To correct their error — to reflect 
on their minds the light which God has kindly shed on 
mine — to break the spell in which they are now held by 
the sorcery of a designing priesthood, and prove that 
priesthood to be a " Brotherhood of Thieves " and the 
" Bulwark of American Slavery " — is all that I shall aim 
to do. 

But I ought, perhaps, in justice to those who know 
nothing of my religious sentiments, except from the mis- 
representations of my enemies, to say, that I have no 
feelings of personal hostility towards any portion of the 
church or clergy of our country. As children of the same 



5 

Father, they are endeared to me by the holiest of all ties ; 
and I am as ready to suffer, if need be, in defence of their 
rights, as in defence of the rights of the Southern slave. 
My objections to them are purely conscientious. I am a 
firm believer in the Christian religion, and in Jesus, as a 
divine being, who is to be our final Judge. I was born 
and nurtured in the bosom of the church, and for twelve 
years was among its most active members. At the age 
of twenty-two, T left the allurements, of an active business 
life, on which I had just entered with fair prospects, and, 
for seven successive years, cloistered myself within the 
walls of our literary institutions, in •' a course of study 
preparatory to the ministry." The only object I had in 
view in changing my pursuits, at this advanced period of 
life, was to render myself more useful to the world, by ex- 
tending the principles of Christianity, as taught and lived 
out by their great Author. In renouncing the priesthood 
and an organized church, and laboring for their overthrow, 
my object is still the same. I entered them on the sup- 
position that they were, what from a child I had been 
taught to regard them, the enclosures of Christ's ministers 
and flock, and his chosen instrumentalities for extending 
his kingdom on the earth. I have left them from an unre- 
sistible conviction, in spite of my early prejudices, that they 
are a " hold of every foul spirit," and the devices of men 
to gain influence and power. And, in rebuking their ad- 
herents as I do, my only object is to awaken them, if 
possible, to a sense of their guilt and moral degradation, 
and bring them to repentance, and a knowledge of the 
true God, of whom most of them are now lamentably 
ignorant, as their lives clearly prove. 

The remarks which I made at your Convention were of 
a most grave and startling character. They strike at the 
very foundation of all our popular ecclesiastical institu- 
tions, and exhibit them to the world as the apologists and 
supporters of the most atrocious system of oppression 
and wrong, beneath which humanity has ever groaned. 
They reflect on the church the deepest possible odium, by 
disclosing to public view the chains and hand-cuffs, the 
whips and branding-irons, the rifles and bloodhounds, 
kith which her ministers and deacons bind the limbs and 
lacerate the flesh of innocent men and defenceless women, 
rhey cast upon the clergy the same dark shade which 
Fesus threw over the ministers of his day, when he tore 
iway the veil beneath which they had successfully con- 
!ealed their diabolical schemes of personal aggrandize- 
nent and power, and denounced them before all the 



6 

people, as a " den of thieves," as " fools and blind," 
"whited sepulchres," "blind giddes, which strain at a 
gnat, and swallow a camel," " hypocrites, who devour 
widows' houses, and for a pretence make long praj'ers," 
" liars," " adulterers," " serpents," " a generation of 
vipers," who could not " escape the damnation of hell." 
But, appalling and ominous as they were, I am not aware 
that I gave the parties accused, or their mobocratic 
friends, any just cause of complaint. They were all 
spoken in public, in a free meeting, where all who dis- 
sented from me were not only invited, but warmly urged, 
to reply. I was an entire stranger among you, with noth- 
ing but the naked truth and a few sympathizing friends 
to sustain me, while the whole weight of popular senti- 
ment was in their favor. Was the controversy unequal 
on their part? Wei-e they afi-aid to meet me with the 
same honorable weapons which I had chosen ? Conscious 
innocence seldom consents to tarnish its character by a 
dishonorable defence. Had my charges been unfounded, 
a refutation of them, under the circumstances, would 
have been most easy and triumphant. My opponents, 
had they been innocent, could have acquitted themselves 
honorably, and overwhelmed their accuser in deep dis- 
grace, without the necessity of resorting to those argu- 
ments which appeal only to one's fears of personal harm, 
and which are certain to react upon their authors, when 
the threatening danger subsides. 

But if all that 1 have alleged against them be true, it 
was obviously my right, nay, my imperative duty, to make 
the disclosures which I did. even thougii it might be, as 
you well know it was, at the peril of my life, and the 
lives of my associates. 

In exposing the deep and fathomless abominations of 
those jjion.s thieves, who gain their livelihood by preacli- 
ing sermons and stealing babies, [ am not at liberty to 
yield to any intimidations, however imposing the source 
fi'om wlience they come. The right of speech — the liberty 
to utter our own convictiou^ freely, at all times and in all 
places, at discretion, unawed by fear, unembarrassed by 
force — is the gift of God to every member of the family 
of man, and should be preserve<l inviolate ; and for one, 
I can consent to suriender it to no power on earth, but with 
the loss of life itself. Let not the petty tyrants of our 
land, in church or state, think to escape the censures 
which their crimes deserve, by hedging themselves about 
with the frightful penalties of human law, or the more 
frightful violence of a drunken and murderous mo)). 



Thei-e live the men who are not afraid to die, even though 
called to meet their fate within the gloomy walls of a 
dismal prison, with no kind hand to wipe the cold death- 
sweat from their sinking brow ; and they scorn a fetter on 
limb or spirit. They know their rights, and know how to 
defend them, or to obtain more than an equivalent for 
their loss, in the rewards of a martyr to the right. 
While life remains, they will speak, and si)eak freebj, 
though it be in '' A Voice from the .Jail ; " nor will they 
treat the crimes and vices of slave-breeding priests, and 
their consecrated al)ettors of the North, with less severitv 
than they do the crimes and vices of other marauders on 
their neighbors' property and rights. Nor should the 
friends of freedofn be alarmed at the consequences of 
this faithful dealing with " sjtiritual wickedness in high 
places." The mobs which it creates are but the violent 
contortions of the patient, as the deep gashes of the 
operator's knife sever the infected limb from his sickly 
and emaciated body. 

The fact that my charges against the religimis sects of 
our country were met with violence and outrage, instead 
of sound arguments and invalidating testimony, is strong 
presumptive evidence of their truth. The innocent never 
find occasion to resort to this disgraceful mode of 
defence. If our clergy and church were the ministers 
and church of Christ would their reputation be defended 
by drunken and murderous mobs? Are brickbats and 
rotten eggs the weapons of truth and Christianity? Did 
fJesus say to his disciples, ''Blessed are ye when the mob 
shall speak well of you, and shall defend you?" The 
church, slavery, and the molt, are a queer trinity ! And 
yet that they are a trinity — that they all "agree in one " 
— cannot be denied. EverN' assault which we have made 
on the bloody slave system, as I shall hereafter show, has 
been promptly met and repelled by the church, which is 
herself the claimant of several hundred thousand slaves; 
and whenever we have attempted to expose the guilt and 
hypocrisy of the church, the mob has uniformly been first 
and foremost in her defence. But I rest not on pre- 
sumptive evidence, however strong and conclusive, to 
sustain my allegations against the American church and 
clergy. The proof of their identity with slavery, and of 
their consequent deep and unparalleled criminality, is 
positive and overwhelming, and is fully adequate to 
sustain the gravest charges, and to justify the most denun- 
ciatory language that has ever fallen Vrom the lips of 
their most inveterate opponents. 



8 

I said at your meeting, among other things, that the 
American church and clergy, as a body, were thieves, 
adulterers, man-stealers, pirates, and murderers ; that the 
Methodist Episcopal church was more corrupt and profli- 
gate than any house of ill-fame in the city of New York ; 
that the Southern ministers of that body were desirous of 
perpetuating slavery for the purpose of supplying them- 
selves with concubines from among its hapless victims ; 
and that many of our clergymen were gnilty of enormities 
that would disgrace an Algerine pirate ! ! These senti- 
ments called forth a burst of holy indignation from the 
pious and dutiful advocates of the church and cl.ergy, 
which overwhelmed the meeting with repeated showers 
of stones and rotten eggs, and eventually compelled me 
to leave your island, to prevent the shedding of human 
blood. But whence this violence and personal abuse, not 
only of the author of these obnoxious sentiments, but 
also of your own unoffending wives and daughters, whose 
faces and dresses, you will recollect, were covered with the 
most loathsome filth? It is reported of the ancient Phari- 
sees and their adherents, that they stoned Stephen to 
death for preaching doctrines at war with the popular 
religion of their times, and charging them with murder 
of the Son of Gi d ; but their successors of the modern 
church, it would seem, have discovered some new principle 
in theology, by which it is made their duty not only to 
stone the heretic himself, but all those also who may at 
any time be found listening to his discourse without a 
permit from their priest. Truly, the church is becoming 
'' terr.ble as an army with banners." 

This violence and outrage on the part of the church 
were, no doubt, committed to the glory of God and the 
honor of religion, although the connection between rotten 
eggs and holiness of heart is not very obvious. It is, I 
suppose, one of the mysteries of religion which laymen 
cannot understand without the aid of the clergy; and I 
therefore suggest that the pulpit make it a subject of 
Sunday discourse. But are not the charges here alleged 
against the clergy strictly and literally true ? I maintain 
that they are true to the very letter ; that the clergy and 
their adherents are literally, and beyond all controversy, 
a " brotherhood of thieves ;" and, in support of this 
opinion, I submit the following considerations : — 

You will agree with me, I think, that slaveholding in- 
volves the commission of all the crimes specified in my 
first charge, viz., theft, adultery, man-stealing, piracy, and 
murder. But should you have any doubts on this subject, 



they will be easily removed by analyzing this atrocious 
outrage on the laws of God, and the rights and happiness 
of man, and examining separately the elements of which 
it is composed. Wesley, the celebrated founder of the 
Methodists, once denounced it as the " sum of all vil- 
lanies." Whether it be the sum of all villanies, or not, I 
will not here express an opinion ; but that it is the sum 
of at least ^?;e, and those by no means the least atrocious 
in the catalogue of human aberrations, will require but 
a small tax on your patience to prove. 

1. Theft. To steal, is to take that which belongs to 
another, without his consent. Theft and robbery are, 
morally, the same act, different only in form. Both are 
included under the command, " Thou shalt not steal;" 
that is, thou shalt not take thy neighbor's property. 
Whoever, therefore, either secretly or by force, possesses 
himself of the property of another, is a thief. Xow. no 
proposition is plainer than that every man owns his own 
industry. He who tills the soil has a right to its prod- 
ucts, and cannot be deprived of them but by an act of 
felony. This principle furnishes the only solid basis for 
the right of private or individual property ; and he who 
denies it, either in theory or practice, denies that right, 
also. But every slaveholder takes the entire industry of 
his slaves, from infancy to gray hairs ; they dig the soil, 
but he receives its products. No matter how kind or 
humane the master may be, —he lives by plunder. He is 
emphatically a freebooter ; and, as such, he is as much 
more despicable a character than the common horse- 
thief, as his depredations are more extensive. 

2. Adultery. This crime is disregard for the requis- 
itions of marriage. The conjugal relation has its founda- 
tion deeply laid in man's nature, and its strict observance 
is essential to his happiness. Hence Jesus Christ has 
thrown around it the sacred sanction of his written law, 
and expressly declared that the man who violates it, 
even by a lustful eye, is an adulterer. But does the slave- 
holder respect this sacred relation ? Is he cautious never 
to tread upon forbidden ground ? No ! His very posi- 
tion makes him the minister of unbridled lust. By con- 
verting woman into a commodity to be bought and sold, 
and used by her claimant as his avarice or lust may 
dictate, he totally annihilates the marriage institution, 
and transforms the wife into what he very significantly 
terms a " Breeder," and her children into "Stock." 

This change in woman's condition, from a free moral 
agent to a chattel, places her domestic relations entirely 



10 

beyond her own control, and makes her a mere instru- 
ment for the gratification of another's desires. The 
master claims her bod}^ as his property, and, of course, 
employs it for such purposes as best suit his inclinations, 
— demanding free access to her bed; nor can she resist 
his demands but at the peril of her life. Thus is her 
chastity left entirely unprotected, and she is made the 
lawful prey of every pale-faced libertine who may choose 
to prostitute her ! To place woman in this situation, or 
to retain her in it when placed there by another, is the 
highest insult that any one could possibly offer to the 
dignity and purity of her nature ; and the wretch who is 
guilty of it deserves an epithet compared with which adul- 
tery is spotless innocence. Rape is his crime ! death his 
desert, — if death be ever due to criminals ! Am I too 
severe ? Let the offence be done to a sister or daughter 
of yours; nay, let the Rev. Dr. Witherspoon, or some 
other ordained miscreant from the South, lay his vile 
hands on your own bosom companion, and do to her what 
he has done to the companion of another, — and wliat 
Prof. Stuart and Dr. Fisk say he may do, " without vio- 
lating the Christisn faith,"— and If ear not your reply. 
None but a moral monster ever consented to the enslave- 
ment of his own daughter, and none but fiends incarnate 
ever enslave the daughter of another. Indeed, I think 
the demons in hell would be ashamed to do to their 
fellow-demons what many of our clergy do to their own 
church members. 

3. Man-stealing. What is it to steal a man? Is it 
not to claim him as your property ? — to call him yours ? 
God has given to every man an inalienable right to him- 
self, — a right of which no conceivable circunistance of 
birth, or forms of law, can divest him ; and he who inter- 
feres with the free and unrestricted exercise of that right, 
who. not content with the proprietorship of his own 
body, claims the body of his neighbor, is a man-stealer. 
This truth is self-evident. Every man, idiots and the 
insane only excepted, knows that he has no possible light 
to another's body ; and he who persists, for a moment, 
in claiming it, incurs the guilt of man-stealing. The plea 
of the slave-claimant, that he has bought, or inherited, 
his slaves, is of no avail. What right had he, I ask, to 
purchase, or to inherit, his neighbors ? The purchase, or 
inheritance of them as a legacy, was itself a crime of no 
less enormity than the original act of kidnapping. But 
every slave-holder, whatever his profession or standing in 
society may be, lays his felonious hands on the body and 



11 

soul of his equal brother, robs him of himself, converts 
liim into an article of merchandise, and leaves him a mere 
chattel personal in the hands of his claimants. Hence he 
is a kidnapper, or man-thief. 

4. Piracy. The American people, l:)y an act of solemn 
legislation, have declared the enslaving of human beings 
on the coast of Africa to be piracy, and have athxed to 
this crime the penalty of deatli. And can the same act 
be piracy in Africa, and not be piracy in America? Does 
crime change its character by changing longitude ? Is 
killing, with malice aforethought, no murder, where there 
is no human enactment against it? Or can it be less 
piratical and Heaven-daring to enslave our own native 
countrymen, than to enslave the heathen sons of a foreign 
and barbarous realm V If there be any difference in the 
two crimes, the odds is in favor of the foreign enslaver. 
Slaveholding loses none of its enormity by a voyage 
across the Atlantic, nor by baptism into the Christian 
name. It is piracy in Africa; it is piracy in America; it 
is piracy the wide world over; and the American slave- 
holder, though he possess all the sanctity of the ancient 
Pharisees, and make prayers as numerous and long, is a 
pirate still ; a base, profligate adulterer, and wicked con- 
tenmer of the holy institution of marriage ; identical in 
moral character with the African slave-trader, and guilty 
of a crime which, if committed on a foreign coast, he 
must expiate on the gallows. 

5. Murder. Murder is an act of the mind, and not of 
the hand. " Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer." 
A man may kill,— that is his hand may inflict a mortal 
l)low, — without committing juurder. On the other 
hand, he may commit nmrder without actually taking 
life. The intention constitutes the crime. He who, with 
a pistol at my breast, demands my pocket-book or my 
life, is a murderer, whichevc'r I nuiy choose to part with. 
And is not he a murderer, who, with the same deadly 
weapon, demands the surrender of what to me is of infinitely 
more value than my pocket-book, nay. than life itself — 
my liberty — myself — my wife and children — all that 1 
possess on earth, or can hope for in heaven ? But this is 
the crime of which every slaveholder is guilty. He main- 
tains his ascendency over his victims, extorting their un- 
requited labor, and sundering the dearest ties of kindred, 
only by the threat of extermination. With the slave, as 
every intelligent person knows, there is no alternative. 
It is submission or death, or, more frequently, protracted 
torture more horrible than death. Indeed, the South 



12 

never sleeps, but on dirks, and pistols, and bowie knives, 
with a troop of blood-hounds standing sentry at every 
door ! What, I ask, means this splendid enginery of 
death, which gilds the palace of the tyrant master? It 
tells the story of his guilt. The burnished steel w^hich 
waits beneath his slumbering pillow, to drink the life- 
blood of outraged innocence, brands him as a murderer. 
It proves, beyond dispute, that the submission of his vic- 
tims is the only reason why he has not already shed 
their blood. 

By this brief analysis of slavery, we stamp upon the 
forehead of the slaveholder, with a brand deeper than 
that which marks the victim of his wrongs, the infamy of 
theft, adultery, man-stealing, piracy, and murder. We 
demonstrate, beyond the possibility of doubt, that he who 
enslaves another — that is, robs him of his right to him- 
.self, to his own hands, and head, and feet, and transforms 
him from a free moral agent into a mere brute, to obey, 
not the commands of God, but his claimant — is guilty of 
every one of these atrocious crimes. And in doing this, 
we have only demonstrated what, to every reflecting mind, 
is self-evident. Every man, if he would but make the 
case of the slave his own. would feel in his inmost soul 
the truth and justice of this charge. But these are the 
crimes which I have alleged against the American church 
and clergy. Hence, to sustain my charge against them, 
it only remains for me to show^ that they are slaveholders. 
That they are slaveholders — party to a conspiracy against 
the liberty of more than two millions of our countrymen, 
and, as such, are guilty of the crimes of which they stand 
accused — I affirm, and will now proceed to prove. 

It may be necessary for me first, however, to show what 
constitutes slaveholding, as there seems to be no little 
confusion in the minds of many on this point. And here 
let me say, the word itself, if analyzed, will give an accu- 
rate description of the act. It is to hold one in slavery — 
to keep him in the condition of a chattel. But slave- 
holding, in all cases, is necessarily a social crime. A man 
may commit theft or murder alone, but no single indi- 
vidual can ever enslave another. It is only when several 
persons associate together, and combine their influence 
against the liberty of an individual, that he can be de- 
prived of his freedom, and reduced to slavery. Hence 
connection with an association, any part of whose object 
is to hold men in slavery, constitutes one a slaveholder. 
Nor is the nature or criminality of his offence altered or 
attected by the number of persons connected with him in 



13 

such an association. If a million of people conspired to- 
gether to enslave a solitary individual, each of them is a 
slaveholder, and no less guilty than if he were alone in 
the crime. It is no palliation of his offence to say, that 
he is opposed to slavery. The better feelings of every 
slaveholder are opposed to slavery. But if he be opposed 
to it, why, I ask, is he concerned in it ? Why does he 
countenance, aid, or abet, the infernal svstem ? The fact 
of his opposition to it, in feeling, instead of mitigating 
his guilt, only enhances it, since it proves, conclusively, 
that he is not unconscious of the wrong he is doing. 

It is a common but mistaken opinion, that, to constitute 
one a slaveholder, he must be the claimant of slaves. 
That title belongs alike to the slave-claimant, and all 
those who, by their countenance or otherwise, lend their 
influence to support the slave system. If I aid or counte- 
nance another in stealing, I am a thief, though he receive 
all the booty. The Knapps, it will be recollected, were 
hung as the murderers of Mr. White, though Crownin- 
shield gave the fatal blow, and that, too, while they were 
at a distance from the bloody scene. It matters little 
who does the mastery, and puts on the drag-chain and 
hand-cuffs, whether it be James B. (iray, the Boston 
Police, Judge Story, or some distinguished Doctor of 
Divinity of the South ; the guilt of the transaction con- 
sists in authorizing or allowing it to be done. Hence all 
who, through their political or ecclesiastical connections, 
aid or countenance the master in his work of death, are 
slaveholders, and, as such, are stained with all the moral 
turpitude which attaches to the man who, by their sanc- 
tion, wields the bloody lash over the heads of his trem- 
bling victims, and buries it deep in their quivering Hesh. 
Nay, the human hounds which guard the plantation, 
ever eager to bark on the track of the flying fugitive, are 
objects of deeper indignation and abhorrence than even 
its lordly proprietor. 

How stands this matter, then, in regard to the Ameri- 
can church and clergy ? Is it true of them that they are 
either claimants of slaves or iratcli-dngs of the plantation? 
Such I regret to say, is the shameful and humiliating 
fact. It is undeniably true, that, with comparatively few 
exceptions, they occupy one of these two positions in re- 
lation to the "peculiar institution." Thousands of the 
ministers, and tens of thousands of the members 
of the different sects, are actually claimants of slaves. 
They buy and sell, mortgage and lease, their own 
" brethren in the Lord," not unfrequently breaking up 



14 

families, and scattering their bleeding fragments over all 
the land, never to be gathered again till the archangel's 
trump shall wake their slumbering ashes into life. In 
confirm^ tion of this statement, if proof be asked, I sub- 
mit the following testimony of Rev. Samuel Heuston, late 
of Utica, N. Y., an accredited minister of the Methodist 
Episcopal church, who formerly resided at the South. 
In reply to several questions by Rev. George Storrs, of 
the same church, Mr. H. says, — 

" I know that members of the M. E. church sell slaves at auc- 
tion, to the highest bidder; and it is not considered a disciplin- 
ary offence. I know of Methodist preachers buying slaves with 
no apparent design to better their condition, but evidently for 
the sake of gain. 

" I should think nearly one half, at least, of the ministers of 
our church hold slaves and trade in them; arvd nearly all the 
members, who are able to own slaves, not only hold them, but 
buy and sell them. 

" I know an official member of the M. E. church. Col. , 

that bought in one purchase Tvhowi Jifty thousand dollars' worth 
of slaves. 

" Esq. , of , S. C, an official member of the M. 

E. church, who made it a business to buy and sell slaves in lots 
to suit the purchasers, has become rich by his speculation in 
them, and still continues his trade in human beings — trading 
not only for himself, but as an agent for others. His house is 
head-quarters for Methodists — a home for the preachers. He is 
a chief man in the church ; very bettevolent.''' 

The opinion of Mr. Heuston as to the extent to which 
the Methodists are engaged in breeding and trafficking in 
slaves, is corroborated by the testimony of Rev. James 
Smylie, a Presbyterian clergyman of ^Mississippi, who af- 
firms the same thing of all the other large denominations. 
In a pamphlet which he published in defence of slavery, 
in 1838, I think it was, we find the following passage : — 

" If slavery be a sin, and advertising and apprehending slaves 
with a view to restore them to their masters, is a direct violation 
of the divine law, and if the buying, selling, or holding a slave, 
FOR THE SAKE OF GAIN, is a heinous sin and scandal, then,, ver- 
ily, THREE FOURTHS OF ALL THE EPISCOPALIANS, METHODISTS, 

Baptists, and Presbyterians, in eleven states of the Un- 
ion, are of the devil. They ' hold,' if they do not buy and sell 
slaves, and, with few exceptions, they hesitate not to ' appre- 
hend and restore ' runaway slaves when in their power." 

The statements of these individuals apply to the South 
only. It is only in that portion of the country that Mr. 
S. says, and says truly, that if slavery be a sin (and no 



15 

man doubts that it is), three fourths of all the Episco- 
palians, Methodists, Baptists, and Presbyterians, are of 
the devil. But as the Northern branch of the church is 
much larger than the Southern, a large majority of the min- 
isters and church members of the whole country hold no 
property in slaves. Rut while it is true they are not claim- 
ants of slaves, it is equally true that they are the apolo- 
gists and supporters of the system. For the sake of union 
with the 8outh, the Northern church and clergy, in concert 
with non-professors, have made their respective states 
hunting-grounds for Southern kidnappers, and themselves 
the hounds. They have covenanted with the South that 
wdienever one of her slaves shall make his escape to I\Ias- 
sachusetts, Judge Story and the United States marshal, 
with his posse comitntus, shall dog him down, secure his 
person, and in due time deliver him up to the original 
kidnapper. Nor is this all. They have consented to be- 
come the body-guard of the slave-master, and have 
pledged themselves to protect him against every attempt 
of his slaves to throw oif their chains. 

It is to this union, and pledge of protection from the 
Nortli, that the slave system owes its perpetuity to the 
present time. Such, at least, is the opinion of the slave- 
claimants thrmselves. Hence they*;hriek out in dismay 
at the first proposition of the abolitionists to dissolve the 
Union, and leave them alone in the enjoyment of their 
peculiar institutions. Such, too, is the opinion of every 
man of sense who knows anything of the past history or 
present condition of our slave population. The North, 
as he very well knows, are emphatically the slave-/io/^/^r.«?. 
They are the soldiers who level th.e mus/cef, as the South gives 
the word of command. Indeed, to satisfy himself of this, 
the humblest and most uninformed of our citizens needs 
but little reflection on the facts already within his knowl- 
edge. Who does not know^ that in this country are two 
and a half millions of people who are doomed to a state 
of " bondage, one hour of which is fraught with more 
misery tlian ages of that which our fathers rose in rebel- 
lion to oppose ?" Confederated with them are not less 
than half a million of abolitionists, and free people of 
color, who believe in the right and duty of self-defence, 
and who are ready to join in every feasible measure to 
secure their liberty. Now I ask by whose agency tliis 
vast people are kept in their present horrible condition. 
To say that they are held by their claimants, would be 
to talk like one bereft of his reason. They are but a 
mere handful of men, at most, less than three hundred 



16 

thousand, or, on an average, abont one to every ten slaves. 
From this vast inequality in numbers it is certain that 
their masters are not alone concerned in their enslave- 
ment. To keep a million of robust, athletic men and 
women in a state of abject servitude, requires a force far 
beyond what they are competent to furnish. Whence, 
then, comes that force ? Who are the allies and abettors 
of these horrible tyrants, who live upon the blighted 
hopes of j^rostrate millions ? Are they the crowned des- 
pots of the old world? Have Algiers and Constantino- 
ple disgorged themselves, and sent forth swarms of troops 
to form a living, impregnable bulwark around these ex- 
ecrable monsters, and shield them from the righteous in- 
dignation of outraged humanity? The South herself 
shall answer this question. She shall speak, and disclose 
her accomplices in this work of death. 

Says the editor of the Maryville (Tenn.) Intelligencer, 
in an article on the character and condition of the slave 
population, — 

" We of the South are emphatically surrounded by a danger- 
ous class of beings, — degraded, stupid savages, — who, if they 
could but once entertain the idea that immediate and uncondi- 
tional death would not ^ be their portion, would react the St. 
Domingo tragedy. But the consciousness, with all their stupid- 
ity, that a tenfold force, superior in discipline if not in barbar- 
ity, would gather from the four corners of the United States, 
and slaughter them, keeps them in subjection. But to the non- 
slaveholding states, particiila7'ly, we are indebted for a perma- 
nent safeguard against insurrection. Without their assistance, 
the white population of the South would be too weak to quiet 
that innate desire for liberty which is ever ready to act itself out 
with every rational creature." 

In a debate in Congress on the resolution to censure 
John Quincy Adams for presenting a petition for the dis- 
solution of the Union, Mr. Underwood of Kentucky, 
made the following very just confession — a confession 
which concedes all that I have ever claimed in regard to 
the guilt of the North, and which the church and the 
clergy must disprove, or admit all that I have alleged 
against them. In speaking of the effect of a repeal of 
the Union on slavery, Mr. U. said, — 

" They (the South) were the weaker portion, were in the mi- 
nority. The North could do what they pleased with them; 
they could adopt their own measures. All he asked was, that 
they would let the South know what those measures were. One 
thing he knew well — that the state which he in part represented, 
had perhaps a deeper interest in this subject than any other, 



17 

except Maryland and a small portion of Virginia. And why? 
Because he knew that to dissolve the Union, and separate the 
different states composing this confederacy, — making the Ohio 
river, and Mason and Dixon's line, the boundary line, — he 
knew as soon as that was done, slavery xvas done, in Kentucky, 
Maryland, and a large portion of Virginia, and it would extend 
to all the states south of this line. V he dissolution of the Union 
luas the dissolution of slavery. It had been the common prac- 
tice for Southern men to get up on this floor, and say, ' Touch 
this subject, and we will dissolve this Union as a remedy.' Their 
remedy was the destruction of the thing which they wished to 
save, and any sensible man could see it. If the Union were 
dissolved into two parts, the slave would cross the line, and 
then turn round and curse his master from the other shore." 

This confession of Mr. Underwood, as to the entire de- 
pendence of the slave masters on the citizens of the nom- 
inally free states to guard their plantations and secure 
them against desertion, is substantially confirmed by 
Thomas 1). Arnold, of Tennessee, who, in a speech on the 
same subject, assures us that they are equally dependent 
on the Morth for personal protecfion against their slaves. 
In assigning- his reasons for adhering to the Union, Mr. 
Arnold makes use of the following remarkable language 

" The free states had now a majority of 44 in that house. Un- 
der the new census they would have 53. The cause of the 
slaveholding states was getting weaker and weaker, and what 
were they to do? He would ask his Southern friends what the 
South had to rely on, if the Union were dissolved? Suppose 
the dissolution could be peaceably effected (if that did not in- 
volve a ccmtradiction of terms), what had the South to depend 
upon? All the croivned heads 7vere against her. A milliofi of 
slaves were ready to rise and strike for freedom at the first tap 
of the drum. They were cut loose from their friends at the 
North (friends they ought to be, and without them the South 
had no friends), ivhither were they to look for protection ? How 
were they to sustain an assault from England, or France, with 
that cancer at their vitals? The more the South reflected, the 
more clearly she must see that she had a deep and vital interest 
in maintaining the Union." 

Testimony to the same effect, might be multiplied to 
an indefinite extent. But more is unnecessary. Every per- 
son, acquainted with the politics of the country, knows 
that slavery is incorporated into the constitution of our 
government, and is made a part of its settled policy. I 
have already said that slaveholding was, necessarily, a 
social crime ; that it was only by means of a social organ- 
ization, by which the power of a whole community could 



18 

be combined and concentrated on a given point, at a giv- 
en time, that the liberty of an individual could be crush- 
ed. The federal and state governments, linked together 
as they now are, constitute such an organization. The 
protection of the slave system was one of the objects for 
which the Union was formed. By the terms of the fed- 
eral compact, the citizens of every state in the Union are 
required and pledged to protect the slave-claimants, in 
each of the states where slavery exists, against any at- 
tempt of their slaves to regain their liberty by a resort 
to arms. The army, the navy, and the militia, of the 
whole ! country, are placed at the bidding of the slave 
power ; and every officer in them, from the highest to the 
lowest, is put under oath to fight the battles of slavery at 
the master's call. Already have the United States' troops 
been twice employed (at South Hampton, Va., and at 
Wilmington, N. C), to suppress insurrection among the 
slaves ; and a call is now made upon the country for a 
large increase of the navy, for the better protection of 
the "peculiar institution." The Florida war also fur- 
nishes another and more recent instance in which the na- 
tion, as such, has unsheathed the sword in defence of 
slavery. The sole object of that war, which has cost the 
country more than 7000 lives, and exhausted its treasury 
of $40^000,000, be it remembered, was the recapture of 
fugitive slaves, and to prevent further escapes. And the 
same mighty influence which has exterminated the poor 
Indian in the everglades of Florida for making his rude 
wigwam a refuge and home for the panting fugitive, is 
now waiting to " gather in tenfold force from the four cor- 
ners of the United States, and slaughter " the pining 
bondmen of the South, should they attempt to throw off 
their chains, and assert their right to liberty. 

The guaranty of personal security against their slaves, 
given by the North to the slave-claimants, is the very life- 
blood of the slave system. Divested of the protection of 
Northern bayonets, the slave power could not sustain it- 
self a single hour, as the South herself is forced to admit. 
•* Suppose the Union to be dissolved, what has the South 
to depend upon? All the crowned heads are against her. 
A million of slaves are ready to rise and strike for free- 
dom at the first tap of the"^ drum." And why, I ask, do 
they not now rise ? Not, surely, because, in a country 
like ours, such a step would be deemed morally wrong. 
The doctrine taught in all our pulpits, and received by 
the church universally, is, that " resistance to tyrants is 
obedience to God." Our clergy tell us that self-defence, 



19 

and the protection of our families, is a duty which we 
may not innocently neglect, while they denounce non- 
resistance as the "doctrine of devils." Why, then, do 
not the slaves assert their freedom, and meet the invad- 
ers of their rights in mortal combat, as our fathers did? 
Why is not Madison Washington (ieorge Washington ? 
And why are not Charles Remond and Frederic Douglass 
and I.undsford Lane, the Henrys and Hancocks and 
Adamses of a second American Revolution ? 

But one answer can be given to this question, and that 
is the one already given by the Maryville Intellicfencer. 
The consciousness that, in a controversy with their mas- 
ters, they must meet the combined forces, nulitary and 
naval, of the whole country, alone deters them from such 
a movement. It is not the lily-fingered aristocracy of the 
South that they fear, as the South herself tells us, but the 
" white slaves " of the North, who have basely sold them- 
selves for scullions to the slave power, and who are al- 
ways ready to do the bidding of their haughty proprie- 
tors, whatever service tliey may recjuire at their hands. 
The slaves know too well, that, should they unfurl the 
banner of freedom, and demand the recognition of their 
liberty and rights at the point of the bayonet, the North- 
ern pulpit, aghast with holy horror at the incendiary 
measure, would raise the maddening cry of insurrection — 
the Northern church, animated by a kindred spirit, and 
echoing the infamous libel, would pour forth her sons in 
countless hordes, and a mighty avalanche of Northern sol- 
diery, well disciplined for their work of death by long 
experience in Northern mobs, would rush down upon them 
from our Northern hills in exterminating wrath, and 
sweep away, in its desolatiug ruins, the last vestige of 
their present "forlorn hope!" Do I misrepresent the 
church and clergy ? No ! You, at least, know that this 
would be but to redeem theii- plighted faith. They stand 
before the world and before high Heaven sworn to pro- 
tect every slave-breeder in the land in his lawful business 
of rearing men and women for the market ; nor have 
they, as a body, ever shown any symptoms of intention 
to violate the requirements of their oath. They preach 
and practice allegiance to a government which is based 
upon the bones and sinews, and cemented with the blood, 
of millions of their countrymen, and hold themselves in 
readiness to execute its every decree, at the point of the 
bayonet. Thus emphatically are they the holders of the 
slaves — the bulwarks of the bloody slave system — and as 
such, at their hands, if there be any truth in Christianity, 
will God require the blood of every slave in our land. 



20 

And, for one, so long as they continue in their present 
position, I deem it the duty of every friend of humanity 
to brand them as a Brotherhood of thieves, adulterers, 
man-stealers, pirates, and murderers, and to prove to the 
world that, in sustaining the slave system, they do actu- 
ally commit all these atrocious crimes. 

The Federal Compact contains another provision, as I 
have already intimated, which, in its operation, is no less 
fatal to the liberties of our enslaved countrymen than 
that which we have just considered ; and one which im- 
plicates every friend and supporter of the Union in all 
the guilt and moral turpitude of slaveholding. I refer 
to that article of the Constitution which requires the sur- 
render of fugitive slaves. If the Northern States were 
really free, the slaves would forthwith escape into them, 
and slavery would soon become extinct by emigration, as 
Mr. Underwood has well said. But what is now the fact ? 
Is there liberty for the slave anywhere within the borders 
of the United States ? When he steps upon the soil of 
Pennsylvania, or New York, or Massachusetts, do his 
shackles fall ? Can he stand erect, and say, " I am free ?" 
No I He is still a crouching slave — still clanks his chains, 
and starts affrighted at the crack of the driver's whip. 
Hotly pursued by the human hounds, which, like the fa- 
bled vulture of Prometheus, have long gorged themselves 
upon his vitals, he reaches forth his imploring hands to 
the professed ministers and followers of the meek and 
loving Saviour, and, with looks that would draw tears 
from adamant, beseeches them by all that is endearing in 
the ties of our common nature, and by all that is horri- 
ble in the doom of a recaptured slave, to save him from 
the fangs of these terrible monsters. But what is their 
reply ? " Go back " — shame, shame on the church ! — " Go 
back, and wear your chains ! True, ' all men are created 
equal, and endowed by their Creator with certain inalien- 
able rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pur- 
suit of happiness ;' and God said, ' Thou shalt not deliver 
to his master the servant which is escaped from his 
master unto thee' — but — but — but we have covenanted 
with the wretches who have robbed you of these rights, 
never to give you shelter, nor protection ; but to return 
you, if found within our borders, again into their power." 

This is no picture of the fancy, as thousands of our 
unhappy countrymen would testify from sad experience, 
if they could but speak. Indeed, it is the language of 
every citizen of the North who holds any other relation 
to th^ Federal Compact than that which George Wash- 



21 

ington and the first American Congress held to the colo- 
nial edicts of George III ; for that instrument, as inter- 
preted by the Supreme Court, pledges all who assent to it 
to withhold protection from every man who is claimed as a 
fugitive slave, and allow him to V)e dragged back into 
bondage. But have the Northern church and clergy ever 
refused to fulfil the requisitions of this infamous compact 
with Southern man-stealers ? Have they trampled its 
provisions under their feet, and indignantly demanded 
its repeal? Never I On the contrary, with comparative- 
ly few exceptions, they have ranged themselves in one of 
the two great political parties which have long vied with 
each other in their support of slavery, and at the same 
time have waged an exterminating warfare against every 
movement in favor of universal freedom. In connection 
with these parties, they have kidna[)ped and returned 
into slavery vast numbers of those who, at diiferent peri- 
od.-^", had been so fortunate as to escape from the power of 
their masters; and in more instances than one have they 
indicted and imprisoned aV»olitionists for giving them suc- 
cor. Thus have the church and clergy of the North volunta- 
rily consented to become the watch-dogs of the plantation ; 
and from long and intimate ac(iuaintance with their fidel- 
ity in this service. I have no hesitation in recommending 
them to their Southern masters, as worthy candidates for 
the honors of a brass collar. And if I were to specify 
cases of extraordinary merit in this regard, I should name 
Chief Justice Shaw and Judge Story, and the clergy gen- 
erally of tlie city of Bosto!i, as especially entitled to re- 
membrance by .James B. (iray, for their prompt and cor- 
dial accpiiescence in his recent claim of (ieorge Latimer. 
It would be but an act of Juslice in Mr. G. to expend a part 
of the money for which he sold (ieorge in collars, in- 
scribed with' the initials of his own name, for these dis- 
tinguished kidnappers. Their conduct on that occasion, 
as 1 can testify from personal observation, richly entitles 
them to some such lasting memento of their loyalty to 
the slave power. 

There is another view of this subject, which presents 
the guilt of the Northern church and clergy in a still 
more glaring light. It is this : To legalize crime, and 
throw around it the sanction of statutory enactments, is, 
undeniably, an act of much greater wickedness than to 
perpetrate it after it has been nuide lawful. Thus the 
members of a legislative body, which should enact a 
law authorizing theft or murder, would more deserve the 
penitentiary, or gallows, than the man who merely steals, 



22 

or, in a fit of anger, takes his neighbor's life. The for- 
mer justify crime, and make it honorable, and thus ob- 
literate all distinction between virtue and vice ; the lat- 
ter merely commits it, when legalized, but attempts no 
justification of his offence. But the religious professions 
of the country have legalized slavery, and the infernal 
slave trade, in the District of Columbia, and in the Terri- 
tory of Florida ! They have made their national capital 
one of the greatest slave marts on the globe ; and they 
now hold in slavery, by direct legislation, more than 
thirty thousand human beings, whom they have sternly 
refused to emancipate. Xo sect can claim exemption 
from this charge. In whatever else they differ, they have 
all united, without exception, by the almost unanimous 
voice of their members, in opposing the abolition of slav- 
ery in those places where they have the power to emanci- 
pate, and have declared to the world, by their vote (the 
most effective way in which they could speak on the siib- 
ject), that it was their sovereign will and pleasure that 
the traffic in human beings, which they have branded as 
piracy on the coast of Africa, should be lawful and hon- 
orable commerce in the United States; and that the cap- 
ital of this land of boasted freedom should be the Guinea 
Coast of America. Xot a mother has been robbed of her 
bal^e within the District of Columbia, not a solitary wo- 
man has been sold there, without the legal sanction of 
more than bcven eighths of every religious sect of the 
North. Even the Free-Will Eciptists and the Quakers, with 
all their professed a))lK)rrence of slavery, and their nu- 
merous public testimonies against it. in consideration of 
the paltry sum of four hundred dollars paid into the-r 
national treasury, license the auctioneer in human flesh 
in the city of AVashington. I charge this offence upon 
these denominations, because the immediate agents in 
granting these licenses are men of their own choice, and 
men, too, who were selected with the full knowledge of 
the fact that they were in favor of legalizing the slave- 
trade, and, if elected to office, would license it in the Dis- 
trict of Columbia. The abolitionists have long and ear- 
nestly besou<jht the pretended ministers and followers of 
Christ, of the different sects, to elect men to office who 
would abolish all legal enactments in favor of slavery, 
wherever they had the power to do it ; but their entrea- 
ties have been totally disregarded, and themselves treated 
with the most profound contempt. 

The nature and enormities of the domestic slave-trade 
which is now can-ied on in tlie District of Columbia, on 



23 

an extensive scale, under the legal sanction of nearly 
the entire body of the church and clergy, may be seen in 
the following eloquent and just description of it from a 
Southern pen. The language is severe, but it is the se- 
verity of truth. The only fault I find with it is, that its 
heaviest strokes are not aimed at those who have thrown 
the shield of government around this infernal traffic, and 
made it lawful and honorable commerce. I copy it : 

\_From the Millennial Trumpeter, Tenti.'] 

"Droves of negroes, chained together in dozens and scores, 
and hand-cuffed, have been driven through our country in num- 
bers far surpassing any previous year. And these vile slave- 
drivers and dealers are swarming like buzzards round a carrion, 
throughout this country. You cannot pass a few miles in the 
great roads without having every feeling of humanity insulted 
and lacerated by this spectacle. Nor can you go into any 
county, or any neighborhood, scarcely, without seeing or hear- 
ing of some of these despicable creatures, called negro-drivers. 

" Who is a nkcro-driver? One whose eyes dwell with de- 
light on lacerated bodies of helpless men, women, and children; 
whose soul feels diabolical raptures at the chains, and hand- 
cuffs, and cart-whips, for inflicting tortures on weeping mothers 
torn from helpless babes, and on husbands and wives torn asun- 
der forever. Who is a negro-driver? An execrable demon, 
who is only prevented by want of power, fellow-citizens, from 
driving your wives, and sons, and daughters, in chains and 
hand-cuffs, with the blood-stained cart-whip to market. Yea, his 
hardened heart would make but little difference, whether he made 
his ill-gotten gain by selling them to a merciless cotton or sugar 
grower, or by sending them directly to the flames of hell. Is your 
insulted humanity, ye sons of Tennessee, your insulted sense of 
right and wrong, your abused conviction of the rights of man, 
satisfied by saying the tears, and groans, and blood, oi these 
human droves are not the tears, and groans, and blood, of our 
wives, children, brothers, and fathers; or these ' blood-snuffing 
vultures' of hell should not set their polluted tread on our 
soil with impunity? Their lives should atone for their audacity. 
And is the fountain of your sympathies dried up for the poor 
oppressed African, merely because he is helpless and defence- 
less? Is the hantl of efficient aid drawn back, merely be- 
cause the enchained, bleeding victim cannot help himself? Is 
not the African thy brother? Is he nut a man, with all the 
sympathies and sensibilities of our nature? Was he not made 
in the image of Ciod ? Did not Christ die to redeem him '? And 
shall we suffer these miscreant fiends to drive our fellow-men in 
chains before our eyes, as brutes are driven to market? 

" The laws, you say, protect these ruffians in their nefarious 
traffic. Yea, the laws are often made by wretches whose char- 



24 

acters are frequently a fac simile of these negro-drivers, whose 
moral picture would darken the black canvass of the pit. There 
are, at this very time, miscreants engaged in this trade, who once 
polluted our legislative halls. But suppose villains enough of 
the right hue let into the legislature, and pass laws that one 
order of society may violate the honor of your wives and daugh- 
ters; would such a law on the pages of our statute-book secure 
the perpetrator from condign punishment? What can the dead 
letter of a statue-book do, in opposition to the public opinion 
of an enlightened and virtuous community?" 

Dark and revolting as is the picture v^hich T have here 
drawn, there yet remains to be added another shade of 
still deeper hue. Through whose agency was it, I ask, 
that a thief now fills the presidential chair? John Tyler, 
the present head and representative of the federal gov- 
ernment, is a veteran slave-breeder — a negro-thief of the 
old Virginia school, who has long supported h'is own fam- 
ily in princely luxury by desolating the domestic hearth- 
stones of his defenceless neighbors, and whose crimes in 
this regard, had they been perpetrated North instead of 
South, of Mason's and Dixon's line, would have con- 
signed him to the state's prison for at least two centuries, 
or until released by death from his ignominious confine- 
ment. Of Mr. Tyler's cab.net, a majority are negro 
thieves — five of the judges of the Supreme Court are 
negro thieves — the president of the United States Senate 
is a negro thief — the speaker of the House of Kepresent- 
atives is a negro thief — the officer first in command in the 
U. S. army is a negro thief — a majority of all our minis- 
ters to foreign courts are negro thieves. And yet these 
men were all elected to office by the votes, direct or indi- 
rect, of the great body of the Northern church and cler- 
gy. But why have the clergy and their adherents shown 
this preference for thieves to rule the nation, and shape 
its destinies ? Doubtless, because they are a " brother- 
hood of thieves," as like always seeks its like. Away, then, 
with all their pretentions to Christianity, or even common 
honesty. The man who votes with either of the great 
political parties does necessarily and inevitably legalize 
slavery, both of these parties being pledged not only to 
execute all the provisions of the Constitution in favor of 
slavery, but to go even farther, and perpetuate the system, 
with all its abominations, in the District of Columbia; 
the man who legalizes slavery, and throws around it the 
protecting shield of the government, is the most guilty 
and atrocious of slaveholders ; and every slaveholder, as 
I have already shown, is guilty of the crimes of theft. 



25 

adultery, man-stealing, piracy, and murder. It follows, 
then, as a legitimate and certain conclusion, that, as the 
ministers and members of the l^orthern church, with 
comparatively few exceptions, have ranged themselves in 
the ranks of the Whig or Democratic party, and have 
thus not only voluntarily formed a political alliance with 
the slave-claimants, in all the diffei-ent states of the Un- 
ion, guaranteeing their personal security, and the return 
of their fugitive slaves, but have also given their direct 
sanction to slavery, by legalizing it, and refusing to eman- 
cipate those whom they have a constitutional right to set 
free, they are slaveholders in the most odious sense of this 
term, and, as such, are guilty of all the crimes alleged 
against them in my first charge. 

From the conclusion to which we have here arrived 
there is no possible escape. Two and a half millions of 
our countrymen, now loaded with chains and fetters, de- 
mand their liberty at our hands. Shall they be free ? 
What say the Northern church and clergy? By voting 
for men to rule the country who are known to be the uncom- 
promising opponents of abolition, they answer — No I By 
refusing to annul that portion of the Federal Compact 
which requires them to return fugitives from slavery, and 
put down the slaves, should they attempt to regain their 
liberty by a resort to arms, they answer — No ! By stifling 
the voice of free discussion, and stirring up mobs against 
the abolitionists, they answer — No ! Whatever influence 
they possess, as citizens, is all thrown into the scale of 
slavery. They looked upon Jolin Tyler as he robbed the 
frantic mother of her babe, and forthwith made him 
president of the Tnited .'^^tates ! They have seen Henry 
Clay and John C. Calhoun tear the tender and confiding 
wife from the fond embrace of her husband, and sell her 
to a stranger, and they are now eager to confer *on them 
the same splendid honors ! And at this very moment, they 
stand, with sword in hand, ready to thrust it into the 
heart of the slave, should he assert his freedom, and ex- 
tend the hand of protection to his insulted and outraged 
wife and daughters ! 

Should these charges chance to meet the eye of the 
guilty authors of this wrong, they will doubtless ask, " Is 
thy servant a dog that he should do this great thing?" 
Yes, I answer, emphatically, ye are doc/a — the watch-dogs 
of your Southern masters,' whose plantations i/e guard — and 
as such, ye are more brutal and inhuman than the servant 
of the Syrian king. Ye daily rob more than three hun- 
dred of your own country-women of their new-born 



26 

babes', and doom those babes to a fate more horrible than 
death, breaking the mother's heart ! Ye have recklessly- 
trampled under foot the sacred institution of marriage, 
consigned every sixth woman in the country to a life of 
hopeless concubinage and adultery, and turned your fam- 
ous Ten-Miles- Square into a mart where the rich aristo- 
crat may lawfully sell the poor man's wife for purposes 
of prostitution, thus legalizing violence on female chas- 
tity in its most horrible and disgusting forms. Think, 
ye fathers and mothers, against whom I bring these tre- 
mendous charges ; O, think of your own daughters 
on the block of the auctioneer, to be sold to any 
vile and loathsome wretch who may choose to pur- 
chase them, to pander to his beastly lusts ! See your 
own darling son, in the person of George Latimer, kid- 
napped in open day, in the heart of New England's me- 
tropolis, and under the very eye of her pulpit : behold 
him manacled in open court, and dragged in chains 
through the streets of that proud city, not by a drunken 
mob, but by the police, with the city marshal at their 
head ; and finally immured with felons in a dismal cell, 
there to wait, for weeks, with trembling anxiety, the hor- 
rible doom of a recaptured slave — and tell me if they are 
not dogs, nay, fiends i.icarnate, who perpetrate such out- 
rages ! But remember, " Thou art the man !" What T 
have here supposed to be done to thy son and daughters, 
thou hast done to the son and daughters of another I 

No intelligent person, man or woman, who is in con- 
cert with the Whig or Democratic party, or who votes for 
any other than an uncompromising abolitionist for civil 
office, or silently countenances such voting, can say. in 
truth, he is innocent of these crimes. It is impossible ! 
Sooner will Pontius Pilate shake from his spotted robes 
the blood of the murdered Jesus ; sooner, far sooner, will 
the infatuated Jew, who cried " Away with him, away 
with him, let him be crucified," stand acquitted before the 
bar of his hnal Judge, than such a man exculpate him- 
self from the guilt of slavery. In imitation of the Ro- 
man judge, he may wash his hands before the people by 
passing resolves against slavery, or excluding slave-claim- 
ants from his comnmnion table, and say, " I am innocent 
of the blood of the slave ;" but it is of no avail. Still in 
his " skirts is found the blood of the souls of the poor in- 
nocents." For private ends, he continues to sustain, by his 
vote, a system which, in words, he has repudiated, as the 
supple tool of the envious Pharisees condemned to death 
the man whom he had previously pronounced without a 



27 

fault; and hence, in his ecclesiastical condemnation of 
slavery, he only adds to the crime of slaveholding, the 
guilt of base hypocrisy. So long as a solitary slave shall 
leave his foot-prints on our soil, or clank his chains in 
our ears, no position can be innocent, nor safe, but that 
of unc(jmpron)ising hostility to whatever is in fellowship 
or alliance with the slave power; and they alone who 
have assumed this position, can justly claim exemption 
from the charge of slaveholding. 

I might pursue the political aspect of this subject still 
farther, and bring together a great amount of additional 
proof in support of my positions. But it is needless. 
Indeed more evidence would only lumber and confuse the 
mind, instead of aiding its conclusions. I will, therefore, 
conclude with a single additional consideration. 

The remark which I wish to add is this : The clerical 
and lay membei-s, with few exceptions, of all the various 
religious sects in the country, are identified with one of 
the two great political parties which administer and con- 
trol the government, either by actually voting for their 
candidates, or by a silent ac(iuiescence in, and approval of, 
their measures. 'J'hose clergymen, who absent them- 
.selves from the polls, but fail to rebuke the memljers of 
their respective churches foi- voting with those parties in 
support of slavery, are as lesponsible for their votes as 
they would be, had they deposited them in the l>allot-box 
with their own hands. This, at least, is the doctrine of 
the ancient propiiet : ''When I say unto the wicked, O 
wicked 7nan, thou shait .snrel If (lie ; if thou dost not speak to 
warn (lie wicked from his wan/, that wicked man shall die i)i 
his inif/nitt/ : hut his blood will I ret/uire at thine hand." 
[Ezekiel xxxiii, 8.] Hence, politically, the sects are Whig 
and Democrat; and up to tiiis hour, they have gone all 
lengths with these parties, in their '' Tippecanoe and Ty- 
ler, too," and " Kinderhook " conventions for the election 
of slave-masters, and '• Xortliern men with Southern 
principles," to fill the iiighest offices in the gift of the 
people. Now, I ask, were their own children in slavery, 
would they be found in tlie ranks of these parties ? If you 
say, yea; then I reply, would they honor with the highest 
offices in the government the men w'ho had debauched 
their own daughters, and sold the flesh, and bones, and 
blood, of their sons in human shambles. If you say, 
nay; then, without further arguiuent, are they individu- 
ally convicted of knowingly and intentionally contribut- 
ing of their influence to support the slave system — a 
system that robs two and a half millions of our country- 



28 

men of every right and privilege which renders life a 
blessing ; and therefore they must answer to God, not for 
the enslavement of one or two individuals merely, but of 
every victim of our country's wrongs who now pines in 
his chains. And if Christianity be not a fable, Christ 
will say to them in the day of judgment, not only for 
what they have actually done to sustain slavery, but for 
what they have neglected to do for its overthrow, " 1 was 
a hungered, and ye gave me no meat ; I was thirsty, and 
ye gave me no drink ; 1 was a stranger, and ye took me 
not in ; naked, and ye clothed me not ; sick and in pris- 
on," — doicn on the planfntioris of the South — "and ye visit- 
ed me not." " Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlast- 
ing fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." For, 
•'Verily 1 say unto you, inasmuch as ye did it not to one 
of the least of these, ye did it not to me." 

In the former part of my letter, 1 have shown that 
slavery is an American and not a Southern institution, 
and that the >J^orth and South are leagued together po- 
litically in its support. I have also shown, both by refer- 
ence to facts, and froin the testimony of distinguished 
men at the South, that the slave power could not sustain 
itself a single hour, without the aid and protection of 
the general govern nient, but must fall at once before the 
avenging arm of its outraged victims ; and, consequently, 
that all who sustain the government in its present pro- 
slavery character, do thereby sustain the slave system, 
and should be held responsible for all the guilt and mis- 
ery which it involves. But while the federal government, 
that is, the electors of the country, are the direct and vis- 
il)le agents on whose authority and fostering care slavery 
depands for support and perpetuity, there is, in this case, 
as in most others of a like nature, " a power behind the 
vthrone greater than the throne itself ;" for in a country 
like ours, civil government is of no force, any farther 
than it is sustained by popular sentiment. The will of 
the people for the time being is the supreme law of the 
land, the legislative and executive departments of the 
government being nothing more than a mere echo of the 
popular will. Hence the power which controls public 
opinion does, in fact, give laws to our country, and is, 
therefore, preeminently responsible for the vices which 
are sanctioned by those laws. That power in this case, is 
the priesthood, backed up and supported by the church. 
'J hey are the manufacturers of our public sentiment ; 
and, consequently, they hold in their hand the key to the 
great prison-house of Southern despotism, and can " open 
and no man shut, and shut and no man open." 



29 

There are in our country more than twenty thousand 
of this class of men, scattered over every part of the 
land, and at the same time so united in national and local 
associations as to act in perfect harmony, whenever concert 
is required. They constitute what may properly be 
termed a religious aristocracy. Among the exclusive 
privileges which they claim and enjoy, is the right to ad- 
minister the ordinances of religion, and to lead in all 
our religious services. The ear of the nation is open to 
them every seventh day of the week, when they pour into 
it just such sentiments as they choose. And not only 
are they in direct and constant contact with the people in 
their public ministrations, l)ut in their parochial visits, at 
the sick bed, at weddings, and at funerals, all of which 
are occasions when the mind is peculiarly tender, and sus- 
ceptible of deep and lasting impressions. Amply sup- 
ported by the contributions of the church, their whole 
time is devoted to the work of moulding and giving char- 
acter to public sentiment ; and with the advantages 
which they enjoy over all other classes of society, of lei- 
sure, the sanctity of their office, and direct and constant 
contact with the people as their '* spiritual guides," their 
power has become all-controlling. It is in 2l finite sense 
omnipresent in every section of the country and is al)so- 
lutely irresistible, wherever their claims are allowed. 
Hence what they countenance it will be next to an im- 
possibility to overthrow, at least till their order itself be 
overthrown ; and whatever system of evil they oppose, 
must melt away like snow beneath the warm rays of an 
April sun. 

To illustrate the strength of their power more fully, 1 
will suppose a case. The car of temperance rolls back 
its ponderous wheels, and we become a nation of drunk- 
ards. Midnight gloom covers the whole land. The 
voice of the reformer is no longer heard in stern rebuke 
against the general debauch which is now rife in every 
rank and grade of society. The traffic in intoxicating 
drinks is legalized in all parts of the country, and by a 
law of Congress for the District of Columbia^ every per- 
son who visits the seat of government on business, or 
for pleasure, may be compelled to drink to intoxication, 
on penalty of thirty-nine lashes on his bare back, in- 
flicted at discretion of the rum-sellers of the district. 

In this state of things, suddenly some daring spirit 
starts up, and with the watchword of reform gathers 
around him a little band of fearless coadjutors, who 
with himself pledge their lives, their fortunes, and their 



30 

sacred honor, to the glorious work of delivering the coun- 
try from the scourge and curse of intemperance. Struck 
with the sanctity of their professions, they naturally look 
to the priesthood and church for aid and cooperation. But 
to their surprise, they find that thousands of the clergy are 
not only the victims but the apologists, and advocates, of 
this degrading vice and crime ; many of them among the 
best customers of the rum-seller; they often go reeling 
and staggering from the grog-shop to the meeting-house, 
and are obliged to ascend the pulpit on borrowed feet ; 
and it not unfrequentiy occurs, during the divine services 
of the Sabbath, that the sentiments of melting tenderness 
which flow forth in supplication from the pious heart of 
the officiating priest, are interrupted in their passage by 
a sudden explosion of the contents of the decanter from 
his surcharged stomach. Deacons, too, in countless num- 
bers, are drunkards; the communion season is often a 
Bacchanalian revel; and much of the revenues of the 
church is the profits of the distillery. Doctors of divinity 
and presidents of our theological seminaries are often found 
engaged in amassing wealth by rumselling ; and not a few 
of the members and officers of the American Board of Com- 
missioners for Foreign Missions, and of the American Bible 
Society, are addicted to hal)itual intoxication; while the 
entire body of the priesthood and church, of all denomi- 
nations, are united in electing to the highest offices in the 
gift of the people men who are not only notorious drunk- 
ards, but who are also known to be in favor of perpetu- 
ating the infamous law, in the District of Columbia, 
which allows the rumsellers of the district to compel the 
citizens of the place, and strangers from abroad, to drink 
to intoxication, or submit to thirty-nine lashes on their 
bare backs. 

Schooled in the philosophy of the apostle who taught 
that "judgment must begin at the house of God," the 
reformers call first upon the church and priesthood to re- 
pent, and sign the pledge of total abstinence. A few 
comply with the call, and not only sign the pledge, but 
advocate its merits ; but much the larger portion continue 
to drink ; and to save their own reputation, they pour con- 
tempt and ridicule on the friends of total abstinence, and 
wink at the mobs which are got up to put them down. 
Presbyteries resolve that drunkenness " is not opposed to 
the will of God." The General Conference of the Metho- 
dist Episcopal church declare, by an overwhelming vote, 
that they have no " right, wish, or intention," to abolish 
intemperance. Professor Stuart comes out in a published 



31 

letter, and denounces the lectures on total abstinence as 
mere " spoutings and vehemence," and boldly declares 
that men may get drunk " without violating the Christian 
faith, or the church." President Fisk endorses this doc- 
trine, and asserts that it *' will stand, because it is Bible 
doctrine." Some of the smaller sects, and local bodies in 
the more influential ones, pass resolutions in favor of 
temperance, but at the same time slander and traduce its 
firmest and most unflinching friends, because they refuse 
to recognize a rum-drinking and rum-selling church and 
clergy as the representatives and followers of Christ ; and 
as if to give undoubted proof of their hypocrisy, they still 
continue to vote for drunkards, and the advocates of the 
compulsion law, for the presidency and all other import- 
ant offices in the gift of the people, and sternly resist every 
importunity of the friends of temperance to aid in the 
election of men who are in favor of repealing that infernal 
enactment. 

Now with the church and clergy in this position, what 
progress, 1 ask, could the friends of temperance hope to 
make in their work of reform? It requires all the moral 
power which they can command to make headway against 
the depraved appetite of the drunkard, with the church 
and clergy nominally in their favor. What, then, could 
they do with this mighty influence openly pitted against 
them, and on the side of the drunkard? Would they 
ever dream of putting down intemperance by pollficnl 
action, so long as the land was cursed with a drunken and 
besotted churcii and priesthood, and they were themselves 
in full fellowship with that church and priesthood? 
Surely, no man in his sober senses would ever seriously 
entertain such an idea. Men of sense would see, at a 
glance, that the church and clergy were a strong and im- 
pervious rampart around the citadel of intemperance, and 
that the oidy hope of our country was in their speedy 
conversion or utter overthrow. 

But is there any analogy between the case I have here 
supposed and tlie one under consideration? Is it true 
that thousands of the ministers of our country are slave- 
holders? Are our deacons, in countless numbers, slave- 
breeders, and slave-traders? Do doctors of divinity, and 
presidents of our theological seminaries enhance their 
wealth by plundering cradles and trundle-beds? Do 
members and officers of the A. B. C. F. M. and of the A. 
B. S. claim their neighbor's wives and daughters, and ap- 
propriate them to their own use as chattels personal ? 
Have presbyteries passed resolves thai "the holding of 



slaves, so far from being a sin in the sight of God, is 
nowhere condeamed in his holy word?" Has the General 
Conference of the Methodist Episcopal church publicly 
declared that it had " no right, wish, or intention," to 
abolish the infernal slav^e system. 

Has Professor Stuart denounced the lectures of aboli- 
tionists as mere "' spouting and vehemence," and boldly 
declared that the strong may enslave the weak, without 
violating the " Christian faith or the church ?" And has 
President Fisk endorsed this doctrine, and asserted that 
" it will stand, because it is Bible dovfrine ? " Do those 
sects and local ecclesiastical bodies which adopt resolu- 
tions in favor of anti-slavery, at the same time slander 
and vilify the character of its firmest and most unflinch- 
ing friends, because they refuse to recognize a pro-slavery 
church and clergy as the followers of Christ? And do 
they, as a body, still persist in voting for slave-claimants 
and pro-slavery men to fill the highest offices in the gift 
of the people, and that, too, against the earnest remon- 
strances and entreaties of the abolitionists? Truth, I re- 
gret to say, requires an affirmative answer to all these 
questions ! The entire body of the church and clergy of 
the country are in Christian fellowship with slavery, that 
is, with those who legalize the system ; while a large pro- 
portion of them are its open and unljlushing advocates 
and apologists I Not a solitary sect in the land, of any 
magnitude, has espoused the anti-slavery cause. They 
all, without exception, stand on the side of the oppressor, 
and legalize his atrocities. They pass from the commun- 
ion table to the ballot-box, and there deposit their votes 
for the man who has robbed his neighbor's cradle, to fill 
the highest office in the gift of the people. Xot a chain 
has been forged — not a fetter has been riveted on any hu- 
man being in the* District of Columbia, without their 
sanction ! The question has often been put to them, " Do 
you, the professed ministers and followers of Christ, wish 
the capital of your country to remain a human flesh- 
mart, where your Saviour may be sold, in the person of 
his followers, under the auction hammer ?" and they h^ve 
as often returned an affirmative answer! And whenever 
the abolitionists have sent up their petitions to Congress 
for the abolition of slavery, the church and clergy have 
sent men there, as their representatives, who have basely 
trampled those petitions under their feet ! 

But it is not in their political capacity that the influ- 
ence of the church and clergy has been most prejudicial 
to the cause of emancipation. True, they have rivalled 



33 

the infidel and nothinoarian in their support of pro- 
slavery parties ; and their recreancy at the ballot-box has 
been such as to merit the severest epithets which 1 have 
ever bestowed upon them. But in their ecclesiastical char- 
acter, tliey have publicly defended the slave si/stem as an in- 
nocent and Heaven-ordained institution, and have thrown the 
sacred sanctions of religion around it, by introducing it into 
the pulpit, and to the communion table ! At the South, 
nearly the entire body of the clergy publicly advocate 
the perpetuity of slavery, and denounce the abolitionists 
as fanatics, incendiaries, and cut-throats ; and the churches 
and clergy of the North still fellowship them, and palm 
them off upon tiie world as the ministers of Christ. I 
know it will be said that there are exceptions to this 
charge ; but if there be any, I have yet to learn of them. 
I know not of a single ecclesiastical body in the country 
which has excommunicated any of its members for the 
crime of slaveholding, since the commencement of the 
anti-slavery enterprise, though most of them have cast 
out the true and faithful abolitionists from their com- 
munion. 

T might with great propriety pursue these general re- 
marks, and indulge in a somewhat severer strain ; but to 
understand the true character of the American church 
and clergy, and the full extent of their atrocities, you 
must hear them speak in their own language. Should I 
tell you the whole truth respecting them, and tell it in my 
own words, I fear you wouhl entertain the same opinion 
of me that the Hramin did of his English friend, who, 
on a certain occasion, as they were walking together along 
the banks of a beautiful river, admiring the richness of 
its scenery, imprudently remarked, that in his country, 
during the winter season, the water became so solid that 
an elephant could walk upon it. The Bramin replied, 
" Sir, you have told me many strange and incredible 
things respecting your country before, yet I have always 
believed you to be a man of truth, but now I knew you 
lie." So, if I tell the truth respecting the Ameiican 
church and clergy, T am afraid you will think me guilty 
of falsehood. 1 will therefore introduce several of the 
leading sects, and let them speak for themselves, 
througli the resolves of th 'ir respective ecclesiastical 
bodies, and the published sentiments of their accredited 
ministers ; and altiiough you may not believe me, should 
I tell you that they have "no wish or intention" to abol- 
ish slavery, yet you will believe them, I trust, when you 



34 

hear the declaration from their own lips. I will begin 
with 

THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

This church extends, in territory, over the whole Union, 
and embraces in its communion, at the present time, over 
1,000,000 members, of whom probably not less than 
100,000 are slaves. It comprises thirty-two Annual Con- 
ferences, from which delegates are chosen to meet in Gen- 
eral Conference, once in four years. The church is gov- 
erned by six bishops, who are elected by the General 
Conference, q.nd whose duty it is to preside at the An- 
nual Conferences ; fix the appointment of preachers ; or- 
dain bishops, elders, and deacons ; and oversee the spir- 
itual and temporal business of the church. 

The first meeting of the General Conference, subse- 
quent to the formation of the American Anti-Slavery So- 
ciety, was in Cincinnati, in May, 1836. On the evening 
of the 10th of May, the Cincinnati A. S. S. held a public 
meeting, which was addressed by two of the members of 
the Conference. On the 12th of May, Rev. S. G. Roszell 
presented to the Conference the following preamble and 
resolutions : — 

" Whereas great excitement has pervaded this country on the 
subject of modern abolitionism, which is reported to have been 
increased in this city recently, by the unjustifiable conduct of 
two members of the General Conference in lecturing upon, and 
in favor of that agitating topic; — and whereas such a course on 
the part of any of its members is calculated to bring upon this 
body the suspicion and distrust of the community, and misrep- 
resent its sentiments in regard to the point at issue; and where- 
as, in this aspect of the case, a due regard for its own charac- 
ter, as well as a just concern for the interests of the church 
confided to its care, demand a full, decided, and unequivocal 
expression of the views of the General Conference in the prem- 
ises ; " — Therefore, 
Resolved, — 

1. "By the delegates of the Annual Conference in General 
Conference assembled, that they disapprove, in the most un- 
qualified sense, the conduct of the two members of the General 
Conference, who are reported to have lectured in this city re- 
cently upon, and in favor of modern abolitionism." 

Resolved, — 

2. " By the delegates of the Annual Conference in General 
Conference assembled, — that they are decidedly opposed to 
modern abolitionism, and wholly disclaim any ri?ht, wish, or in- 
tention to interfere in the civil and political relation between 



35 

master and slave, as it exists in the slaveholding states of the 
Union." 

These resolutions, after a full discussion, were adopted 
b}' the Conference — the first by a vote of 122 to 11, the 
last 120 to 14. 

Accompanying these resolutions, as they went forth to 
the world to " define the position" of the Methodist Epis- 
copal church on the great question which is now agitat- 
ing the land, was a pastoral address to the churches, 
which contains the following passages : 

" These facts, which are only mentioned here as a reason for 
the friendly admonition which we wish to give you, constrain 
us, as your pastors, who are called to watch over your souls, as 
they must give account, to exhort you to abstain from all abo- 
lition movements and associations, and to refrain from patron- 
izing any of their publications, <S;c. 

" From every view of the subject which we have been able 
to take, and from the most calm and dispassionate survey of the 
whole ground, we have come to the conclusion, that the only 
safe, scriptural, and prudent way for us, both as ministers and 
people, to take, is wholly to refrain from this agitating sub- 
ject,'" &c. 

Such was the language of the representative body of 
the Methodist Episcopal church on the great question of 
emancipation, in 1830. They here declare, emphatically, 
that they have no " wis^h or intention to interfere in the 
civil and political relation between master and slave," 
and exhort their brethren to " abstain from all abolition 
movements and associations," und "wholly to refrain 
from this agitating subject !" And what could a con- 
clave of demons in hell have said more ? Surely no other 
banditti on earth would have gone so far — not in hypoc- 
risy, at least, if they had in cold-blooded barbarity. Mark 
the language of the reverend scoundrels. '1 hey have no 
" Irish or intention " to abolish the infernal slave system ! 
Every circumstance of the scene contributes to heighten 
their guilt. They claim to be ambassadors of ChMst, 
assembled for the purpose of extending his kingdom on 
the earth, — before them lie two millions of their country- 
men, ground into the very dust beneath " a bondage, one 
hour of which is fraught with more misery than ages of 
that which our fathers rose in rebellion to oppose ;" and 
yet they iiave " no ivish or intention to interfere with their 
civil and political relations !" These hapless victims of 
republican despotism are prohibited by law from learning 
the letters of the alphabet, and, of course, from reading 



36 

the Bible; and as a necessary consequence of their condi- 
tion as chattels, they are deprived of the institution of 
marriage, and doomed to a life of universal prostitution 
and concubinaoe — and yet they have no " tcish or intention 
to interfere with their civil and political relations !" A mil- 
lion of American women are daily thrown into the mar- 
ket, and offered for sale for purposes of prostitution, to 
any person of sufficient w^ealth to command their price — 
and yet they have "no icish or intention to interfere with 
their civil and political relations I" They see before them 
men and women, many of them members of their own 
church, chained together by dozens and scores, hand- 
cuffed, and driven from their homes, and all that is dear 
to them on earth, to a distant market, and there sold with 
the meanest brutes — and yet they have " no wif^h or irUen- 
tion to interfere with their civil and political relations !" 
They look abroad over the country, and behold the hun- 
dreds of mothers who are daily robbed of their darling 
babes, and witness the keen ang'uish and perfect despera- 
tion to which they are often driven by the strength of 
maternal affection — and yet they have " no wish or inten- 
tion to interfere with th^ir civil and political relations !" 
No, they have not one solitary word of consolation for 
the poor, heart-broken, despairing slave ! They have '■'no 
wish " to see him free ! So they tell us. . The clank of 
the chain, and the crack of the driver's whip, are music 
to their ears ! They cannot even pray that this nefarious 
system may come to an end, for thei/ are decidedly opposed 
to modern abolitionism." Not less so, doubtless, than Beel- 
zebub himself. They /);-f/er the continuance of slavery! 
And not content with merely passing by their robbed and 
bleeding countrymen, like the priest and l.evite of old, 
and leaving them to the charities of others, they must 
turn aside from their pious calling, to give a dagger-thrust 
at the reputation of those who are kindly binding up their 
wounds ! 

The next meeting of this body was in Baltimore, in 
1840. It was to be hoped that the rising spirit of liber- 
ty which was now agitating the counti-y, and opening the 
e3'es of thousands to the wrongs of our enslaved country- 
men, would reach the ministry of the Methodist church, 
and in some degree, at least, soften their obdurate hearts. 
But the action of this Conference shows that the preach- 
ing of the truth, so far as they were concerned, had 
only proved " a savor of death unto death." Instead of 
lightening the burdens of the previous CoPiference, their 
little Jinger was thicker than their predecessors' loins. 



37 

The Conference of 1 830 had chastised the slaves and their 
advocates with whips, but they chastised them with scor- 
pions. Up to this date, the slaves in this church had, 
nominally at least, enjoyed that last privilege of the op- 
pressed, the right of complaint. But, for reasons to which 
1 shall hereafter refer, this sacred right was now wrested 
from them, and all recognition of their manhood totally 
annihilated at one fell swoop, by the adoption of the 
following resolution, which was presented by the Rev. 
Dr. A. G. Few, of Georgia : — 

Resolved, — 
" That it is inexpedient and unjustifiable for any preacher to 
permit colored persons to give testimony against white persons, 
in any state where they are denied that privilege by law." 

By tliis rule, which is now a part of the discipline of 
the church, more than .s(),(JUO of its colored members are 
denied the right to testify against awhile brother or sister 
in any case whatsoever. No matter what the crime may 
be, or how aggravating the circumstances. The rever- 
end mover of the resolution can now violate the chasti- 
ty of the colored members of his church with entire im- 
punity, lie is no longer in any danger of being cen- 
sured and silenced by his more fortunate brethren, as the 
late Rev. Dr. Fay was. Should he unfortunately be 
'^overtaken in a fault," the church has "provided a way of 
escape." And an ample provision it is, even for the c'hief- 
est of sinners. Neither the reverend doctor, nor any of 
his coadjutors, could desire greater libei'ty — or pricileijes, 
as they might term it. The lips of their victims and her 
friends are now hermetically sealed up, both in the church 
and in the civil tribunals. 'J'he aggrieved party can now ob- 
tain no redress, however aggravated the olience. The state 
has declared her body to be the property of her white broth- 
er; and the church has decided that it will entertain none 
of her complaints, whatever use he may make of it. 
What more could even the clergy ask ? But I forbear. 

The course of the faithless miscreants who adopted 
this and the preceding resolutions, was acquiesced in by 
all the local Conferences, and cordially approved by most 
of them, and by nearly all the distinguished and influ- 
ential ministers in the denomination. 

In support of the position assumed by the General 
Conference, the Ohio Annual Conference 

Resolved, — 
" That those brethren of the North, who resist the abolition 
movements with firmness and moderation, are the true friends 



38 

of the church, to the slaves of the South, and to the constitu- 
tion of our common country," Sec. 

The New York Annual Conference 
Resolved, — 

1. "That this Conference fully concur in the advice of the 
late General Conference, as expressed in their Pastoral Address. 

2. " That we disapprove of the members of this Conference 
patronizing, or in any way giving countenance to a paper called 
'Zion's Watchman,' because, in our opinion it tends to disturb 
the peace and harmony of the body, by sowing dissension in the 
church." 

Resolved — 

3. " That although we do not condemn any man, or with- 
hold our suffrages from him on account of his opinions merely, 
in reference to the subject of abolitionism, yet we are decidedly 
of the opinion that none ought to be elected to the office of 
deacon or elder in our church, unless he give a pledge to the 
Conference, that he will refrain from agitating the church with 
discussions on this subject." 

The Georgia Annual Conference 
Resolved tinaniinously, — 

1. "That it is the' sense of the Georgia Annual Conference, 
that slavery, as it exists in the United States, is not a moral evil. 

Resolved, — 

2. " That we view j/«6/^n' as a civil and domestic institution, 
and one with which, as ministers of Christ, we have nothing to 
do, further than to ameliorate the condition of the slave, by en- 
deavoring to impart to him and his master the benign influence 
of the religion of Christy and aiding both on their way to 
heaven." 

Which religion in the opinion of the Methodist Episco- 
pal church, is not opposed to the perpetuity of slavery ; 
but allows one member of the church to claim and use 
another's ivife as his property, and to appropriate her to 
such use as he may deem proper or desirable, tlie enslaved 
won)an having no right to enter and substantiate a com- 
plaint against her master before the church ! This is 
Methodism ! This is the religion which the Methodist 
clergy " /7«/»«/7 " to the poor, heart-broken slave, and to 
his inhuman master. This, too, is the religion which 
they " impart " to their poor deluded vassals at the North. 
Bear with me while I present a few more specimens of it, 
from the lips of its most distinguished advocates. 

Rev. E. 1). Simons, professor in Macon College : — 

"These extracts from holy writ unequivocally assert 
THE RIGHT OF PROPERTY IN SLAVES, together with the usual in- 



39 

cidents of that right; such as the power of acquisition and 
disposition in various ways, according to municipal regulations. 
The right to buy and sell, and to transmit to children by the 
way of inheritance, is clearly stated. The only restriction on 
the subject is in reference to the mar^e^, in which slaves or bond 
men were to be purchased. 

" Upon the whole, then, whether we consult the Jewish polity 
instituted by God himself, or the uniform opinion and practice 
of mankind in all ages of the world, or the injunctions of the 
New Testament and the moral law, we are brought to the con- 
clusion that slavery is not immoral. 

" Having established the point that the first African slaves 
were legally brought into bondage, the right to detain their 
children in bondage, follows as an indispensable consequence. 

" Thus we see that the slavery which exists in America was 
founded in rights 

Rev. Wilbur Fisk, d. d., late president of the Wesleyan 
University, Connecticut : 

"The relation of master and servant may, and does, in many 
cases, exist under such circumstances, as frees the master from 
the just charge and guilt of immorality. 

"The general rule of Christianity not only permits, but, in 
supposable circumstances, enjoins a continuance of the master's 
authority. 

"The New Testament enjoins obedience upon the slave as 
an obligation due to a present rightful authority." 

Elijah Hedding, d. d., one of the six Methodist bish- 
ops : — 

" The right to hold a slave is founded on this rule : 'There- 
fore, all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to 
you, do ye even so unto them; for this is the law and the 
prophets.' " 

Rev. William Winans, of Mississippi, in the General 
Conference, in 1836 : — 

" He was not born in a slave state — he was a Pennsylvanian 
by birth. He had been brought up to believe a slaveholder 
as great a villain as a horse-thief; but he had gone to the South, 
and long residence there had changed his views; he had be- 
come a slaveholder on principle.'' * * * " Though a slave- 
holder himself, no abolitionist felt more sympathy for the slave 
than he did — none had rejoiced more in the hope of a coming 
period, when the print of a slave's foot would not be seen on 
the soil." ♦ ♦ * "It was important to the interests of slaves, 
and in view of the question of slavery, that there be Christians 
who were slaveholders. Christian ministers should be slave- 
holders, and diffused throughout the South. Ves, sir, Presby- 
terians, Baptists, Methodists, should be slaveholders: — yes, 



40 

he repeated it boldly — there should be members, and deacons, 
and ELDERS, and BISHOPS, too, who were slaveholders." 

Rev. J. C. Postell. Orangeburg, South Carolina, in an 
address at a public meeting called for the purpose of op- 
posing abolition : 

" From what has been premised the following conclusions 
result: i. That slavery is a judicial visitation. 2. That it is 
not a moral evil. 3. That it is supported by the Bible. 4. It 
has existed in all ages. 

" It is not a moral evil. The fact, that slavery is of divine 
APPOINTMENT, would be proof enough with the Christian that it 
cannot be a moral evil." * * * "So far from being a moral 
evil, it is a merciful visitation. If slavery was either the in- 
vention of man, or a moral evil, it is logical to conclude, the 
power to create has the power to destroy. Why, then, has it 
existed? And why does it now exist amid all the power of 
legislation in state and church, and the clamor of abolitionists? 

It is the Lord's DOINGS, AND IT IS MARVELLOUS IN OUR EYES; 

and had it not been for the' best, God alone, who is able, long 
since would have overruled it. It is by divine appointment." 

The same individual to the editor of Zions Watchman : 

"To La Roy Sunderland, &c. 

" Did you calculate to misrepresent the Methodist discipline, 
and say it supported abolitionism, when the General Conference, 
in their late resolutions, denounced it as a libel on truth. ' O 
full of all suhtlety, thou child of the devil P ■^X liars, saith the 
sacred volume, shall have their part in the lake of fire and brim- 
stone. 

" I can only give one reason why you have not been indicted 
for a libel. The law says ' The greater the truth the greater the 
libel;' and as your paper has no such ingredient, it is construed 
but a small matter. But if you desire to educate the slaves, I 
will tell you how to raise the money, without editing Z ion's 
Watchman. You and old Arthur Tappan come out to the 
South this winter, and they will raise one hundred thousand 
dollars for you. New Orleans itself will be pledged for it. 
Desiring no further acquaintance with you, and never expect- 
ing to see you but once in time or eternity, that is, at the judg- 
ment, I subscribe myself, the friend of the Bible, and the op- 
poser of abolitionists. 

" J. C. Postell, 
" Orangeburgh, July 21st, I836." 

Rev. Geo. AV. Langhorne, of North Carolina, to the ed- 
itor of Zions Herald : — 

" I, sir, would as soon bfe found in the ranks of a banditti, as 
numbered with Arthur Tappan and his wanton coadjutors. 
Nothing is more appalling to my feelings as a man, contrary to 



41 

my principles as a Christian, and repiignant to my soul as a 
mutister, than the insidious proceedings of such men. 

" If you have not resigned your credentials as a minister of 
the Methodist Episcopal church, I really think that, as an hon- 
est man, you should now do it. In your ordination vows you 
solemnly promised to be obedient to those who have rule over 
you; and since they (the General Conference) have spoken, 
and that distinctly, too, on this subject, and disapprobate your 
conduct, I conceive you are bound to submit to their authority, 
or leave the church." 

Rev. Mr. Crawder, of Virginia, in the General Confer- 
ence, 1840 : 

" Slavery is not only countenanced, permitted, and regulated, 
by the Bible, but it was positively ins ituled hy God hlmself — 
he has in so many words enjoined it." 

Such is the present ecclesiastical position of tlie Meth- 
odist Episcopal church, in relation to the system which 
John Wesley denounced as the sum of all villanies, and 
which, as I have clearly shown, no person can support or 
countenance, directly or indirectly, without thereby be- 
coming Si felon of the most odious and crinnnal charac- 
ter. " Nearly one half of the ministers," in the eleven 
states of the'Union, ''hold slaves and* trade in them " — 
that is, they claim their neighbors' wives, rob cradles and 
trundle-beds, and sell their own church members for pur- 
poses of prostitution (if the purchaser choose to put 
them to that use) ; and the church, meanwhile, through 
its highest tribunal, by a vote of 120 to 14, declares itself 
" decidedly opposed " to the abolition of this monstrous 
wickedness, and asserts that it has " no righf, ivisk, or in- 
tention to interfere " with it ; and one of the six bishops, 
and he a Northern man, the Rev. Elijah Hedding, d. d., 
tells us that " the right to hold slaves" — that is, to claim 
his neighbor's wife and daughters as his property, and to 
use them as such — " is founded on the rule, ' Therefore 
all things whatsoever ye would that others should do to 
you, do ye even so to them !' !" Is not this church, then, a 
" Brotherhood of Thieves V" Is it not, rather, a conclave 
of incarnate fends, whose influence is as much more cor- 
rupting to the morals of the community than the influ- 
ence of the theatre, as its doctrines are more damnable f 
For one, much as I deprecate the erection of a theatre, I 
deprecate the erection of a Methodist meeting-house 7nore ! 
The stage does not teach my neighbors that the New Tes- 
tament allows them to enslave my wife and children ; but 
the Metliodist pulpit does ! I know not in what light 



42 

you view this subject, but for myself 1 regard every intel- 
ligent coiiimunicaut in the Methodist church as more 
guilty and iiiiamoLis, in the sight of God, than the com- 
mon prostitute, the pickpocket, or the assassin ; and I can- 
not associate with him on any other terms of intercourse 
than those which I stipulate for these infamous charac- 
ters. 

But the Methodists are not sinners above all the sects 
in the land. All the other large denominations are of a 
kindred character, as will appear from an examination of 
their ecclesiastical history, and the sentiments of their 
most distinguished ministers. They all legalize slavery, 
and most of them, as we shall see, own slaves, and public- 
ly vindicate the system, or are silent as to its wrongs. 
This is specially true of 

THE PRESBYTERIAN AND CONGREGATIONAL 
CHURCH. 

The Presbyterians and orthodox Congregation alists of 
the United States, numbei-ing in all about 600,000 com- 
municants, are virtually one sect, or denomination ; their 
only difference being about church government. On all 
other points of religious faith, slavery not excepted, they 
are agreed. They are all in Christian fellowship with 
each other ; and are connected together by Associations, 
Presbyteries, Synods, and General Assemblies. They are 
united in their missionary operations ; their ministers in- 
termingle on exchanges and parochial settlements ; their 
communion table is common ; and they recommend and 
receive members from one to the other without any change 
of faith. And to make the fellowship more complete, 
and the connection more perfect, the General Association 
of the Congregation alists, in all the New England States, 
where the Congregational church is mainly located, send 
delegates to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian 
church and receive their delegates in return. In 1838, 
the General Assembly separated on some unimportant 
points of doctrine ; but the denomination is still one and 
undivided : and the separation was nothing more than the 
cleaving of air, which closes immediately behind the in- 
tersecting instrument. Hence, connected as all the local 
churches are with the general body, no person can unite 
with any one of them without being thereby brought into 
fellowship with the whole ; for there is no local church in 
the country, of which I have any knowledge, which is dis- 
connected from the main body ; and it is not material 



43 

whether we fellowship slave-claimants directly, or fellow- 
ship those who are in fellowship with them. In either 
case, the chain which binds us to slavery being unbroken, 
we partake of its sins, and must receive of its plagues. 

Now, there are in this church a large number of clergy- 
men, men of great influence with the denomination, who 
gain their subsistence by preaching sermons, making 
prayers, and stealing babes! These " spiritual guides " of 
the' Presbyterian church, like their brethren of the Metho- 
dist church, claim their neighbors' wives and daughters, 
and appropriate them to their own use. They tell us that 
these women are theira — that they own them. Of course, 
if they own them, tliey can do what they unll with their 
own ; and what a clergyman would be likely to do with 
his own women — women over whom he not only possessed 
unlimited power, but to whose bodies he had a divine 
right— those can best judge who are acquainted with the 
records of that department of the Female Moral Reform 
Society, which treats of the licentiousness of the clergy. 
And what is done by the leaders is also done by the peo- 
ple. Thousands of the lay members of this church are 
slave-breeders, whose chief or only source of income is the 
sale of human flesh! 'I'heir plantations are stocked with 
women, members, in part, of the same church, whom they 
term Bkeedeus ; and not a few of them are engaged on 
an extensive scale, in raising hoys and girls from these 
breeders, for the rice and cotton fields of the far South ; 
as the Berkshire farmers raise cattle and horses for Brigh- 
ton market ! ! 

But the clergy of this genteel and influential sect have 
not been content with merely upholding slavery by the 
force of their example. Like faithful sentinels on its 
watchtowers, they were the first to descry the dangers of 
abolition ; and from the connnencement of the anti-slavery 
enterprise, they have been among the most active and en- 
ergetic in arousing the people to determined and obstinate 
resistance. Xo sect in the land has done more to perpet- 
uate slavery than this. Its deliberate and cold-blooded 
sanction and approval of the slave system, and its murderous 
appeal to the mob to put a stop to the progress of free 
principles by Lynch law, is enough to make one's blood 
curdle in his veins I — But hear them in their own words, 
recollecting, meanwhile, that they claim to be the minis- 
ters of Christ, and that before them lie 2,700,000 wretched 
slaves, imploring relief at their hands. Here is their 
answer to the demand of crushed humanity for the recog- 
nition of its inalienable rights. 



44 

Charleston Union Presbytery : — 

Resolved, — 
" That in the opinion of this Presbytery, the holding of slaves, 
so far fr 0771 beiiig a sin in the sight of God, is nowhere con- 
de77ined z« his holy word — that it is in accordance with the ex- 
ample, or consistent with the precepts, of patriarchs, apostles, 
and prophets, and that it is compatible with the most fraternal 
regard to the best good of those servants whom God may have 
committed to our charge." 

Harmony Presbytery, South Carolina : — 

Resolved, unanimously, — 

" I. That, as the kingdom of our Lord is not of this world, 
his church, as such, has no right to abolish, alter, or affect any 
institution or ordinance of men, political and civil merely, &c. 

** 2. That slavery has existed from the days of those good 
old slaveholders and patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob 
(who are now in the kingdom of heaven), to the time when 
the apostle Paul sent a runaway slave home to his master Phil- 
emon, and wrote a Christian and fraternal epistle to this slave- 
holder, which we find still stands in the canons of the Scrip- 
tures; and that slavery has existed ever since the days of the 
apostle, and does now exist. 

" 3. That, as the relative duties of master and slave are taught 
in the Scriptures, in the same manner as those of parent and 
child, and husband and w'xio., the existence of slavery itself is not 
opposed to the will of God ; and whosoever has a conscience 
too tender to recognize this relation as lawful is ' righteous over- 
much,' is ' wise above what is written,' and has submitted his 
neck to the yoke of man, sacrificed his Christian liberty of con- 
science, and leaves the infallible word of God for the fancies 
and doctrines of men." 

Synod of South Carolina and Georgia : — 

Resolved, unanimously [Dec, 1834,] — 
"That, in the opinion of this Synod, Abolition Societies, and 
the principles upon which they are founded, in the United 
States, are inconsistent with the interests of the slaves, the 
rights of the holders, and the great principles ot our political 
institutions." 

Rev. Robert X. Anderson, Virginia : — 

" To the Sessions of the Presbyterian Congregations within the 
Bounds of West Hanover Presbytery : — 
"At the approaching stated meeting of our Presbytery, I de- 
sign to offer a preamble and string of resolutions on the subject 
of the use of wine in the Lord's supper; and also a prea7nble 
and a striftg of resolutio7ts 071 the subject of the treasotiable a fid 
abominably wicked interferejtce of the Northern and Eastern 



45 

fanatics with our political and civil rights, our property, and 
our domestic concerns. I myself, dear bre hren, have no rea- 
son to doubt the perfect soundness of all my clerical brethren of 
this Presbytery on these subjects. But you are fully aware that 
the present state of things loudly and imperiously'calls for an 
expression of their views on these subjects, and particularly on 
abolitionism, by all church bodies at the South. You are aware 
also, that our clergy, whether with or without reason, are more 
suspected by the public than are the clergy of other denomina- 
tions. Now, dear Christian brethren, I humbly express it as 
my earnest wish, that you quit yourselves like men; that every 
congregation send up both to the Presbytery and to the Synod 
the ablest elder it has. The times — rely upon it— the times de- 
mand it. If there be any stray goat of a minister among us, 
tainted zuith the blood-hound principles of abolitionism, let him 
be ferreted out, silenced, excommunicated, and left to the public 
to dispose of him in other respects. 

" Your affectionate brother in the Lord, 

"Robert N. Anderson." 

Rev. Thomas S. Witherspoon, of Alabama, to the edi- 
tor of the Emancipator : — 

" I draw my warrant from the Scriptures of the Old and New 
Testament, to hold the slave in bondage. The principle of 
holding the heathen in bondage is recognized by God." * * 

* * * " When the tardy process of law is too long in re- 
dressing our grievances, we of- the South have adopted the 
summary remedy of Judge Lynch— and really I think it is one 
of the most wholesome and salutary remedies for the malady of 
Northern fanaticism that can be applied, and no doubt my 
worthy friend, the editor of the Emancipator and Human 
Rights, would feel the better of its enforcement, provided he 
had a Southern administrator. I go to the Bible for my war- 
rant in all moral matters." ♦♦**♦♦«« I et yom- 
emissaries dare venture to cross the Potomac, and I cannot 
promise you that their fate will be less than Haman's. Then 
beware how you goad an insulted but magnanimous people to 
deeds of desperation." 

Rev. Wm. S. Plummer, d. d., Virginia : 

[To the Chairman of a Committee of Correspondence, 
appointed by the citizens of Richmond, to oppose the 
progress of anti-slavery principles at the South.] 

" I have carefully watched the matter from its earliest exist- 
ence, and everything I have seen and heard of its character, 
both from its patrons and its enemies, has confirmed me, beyond 
repentance, in the belief that, let the character of abolitionists 
be what it may in the sight of tne Judge of all the earth, this 
is the most meddlesome, impudent, reckless, tierce, and wicked 



46 

excitement I ever saw. I am willing at any time that the world 
should know that such are my views. A few things are perfectly 
clear to my mind. 

" 1st. The more speedy, united, firm, and solemnly resolute, 
but temperate, the expression of public opinion on this subject 
in the whole South, the better it will be for the North, for slave- 
holders, and generally for the slaves. 

" 2d. If abolitionists will set the country in a blaze, it is but 
fair that they should have the first tuarmitig at the fire. "' 

********** 

" Lastly. Abolitionists are, like infidels, wholly unaddicted 
to martyrdom for opinion's sake. Let them understand that 
they will he caught, if they come among us, and they will take 
good heed to keep out of our way. There is not one man 
among them who has any more idea of shedding his blood in 
this cause, than he has of making war on the Grand Turk. 
Their universal spirit is to stand off, and growl and bark at men 
and institutions, without daring to march for one moment into 
their midst, and attack them with apostolic fearlessness. 

"With sentiments of great respect, I remain yours, &c., 

" W.Nf. S. PLUMNfER.* 

I know of no language in the vocabulary which is ade" 
quate to express the abhorrence which must be felt by 
every untainted mind towards the authors of the atro- 
cious sentiments contained in the three last documents, 
and also towards the church and denomination that will 
sustain them, and palm them upon the world as minis- 
ters of Christ. What ! has it come to this, that pastors 
of churches and doctors of divinity can not only steal 
their neighbors' wives, without fear of reproach, but openly 
advocate [..YNcn law, and that, too, in its most frightful 
shape, for the suppression of free discussion ? William 
S, Plummer is not only a doctor of divinity, but one of 
the most popular ministers in all the South. He is at the 
head of the New School in tlie Presbyterian church, and 
is a pi'ominent member of the A. B. C. F. M. And yet 
his letter is a direct appeal to the mob to burn us alive, 
if we go among them ! He calls upon the citizens of 
Richmond to react the Yicksburg tragedy! — to ''catch" 
the abolitionists, and give them a " warming at the fire .'" 
And this call comes to them from the pulpit, endorsed by 
every Presbyterian and Congregationalist in the land, for 
they all recognize William S. Plummer as a Christian 
minister ! These three men are execrable murderers, if 
Christ's definition of murder be the true one ; and yet 
they are of no doubtful standing in the Presbyterian 
church ! These are the men whose delegates are annu- 



47 

ally received by every Congregational Association in New 
England ! 

Rev. Moses Stuart, professor in Andover Theological 
Seminary, Massachusetts : — 

[To Rev. Wilbur Fisk, d. d., president of the Wesley- 
an University, ^Connecticut.] 

"Andover, loth April, 1837. 

" Rev. and dear sir, — Yours is before me. A sickness of 
three months standing (typhus fever), in which I have just es- 
caped death, and which still confines me to my house, renders 
it impossible for me to answer your letter at large. 

" I. The precepts of the New Testament respecting the de- 
meanor of slaves and their masters, beyond all ipiestion, recog- 
nize the existence of slavery. The masters are in part ' believ- 
ing masters,' so that a precept to them, how they are to behave 
as masters, recognizes that the relation may still exist, salvafuie et 
salva eccUsia (without violating the Christian faith or the church). 
Otherwise, Paul had nothing to do hut to cut the band asunder 
at once. He could not lawfully and properly temporize with a 
malum in se (that which is in itself sin). 

'• If any one doubts, let him take the case of Paul's sending 
Onesimus back Xo Philemon, with an aptdogy for his running 
away, and sending him back to be his servant for life. The re- 
lation did exist, may exist. The abuse of it is the essential and 
fundamental wrong. Not that the theory of slavery is in itself 
right. No; 'Love thy neighbor as thyself,' ' Do unto others 
that which ye would that others should do unto you,' decide 
against this. But the relation once constituted and continued, 
is not such a malum in se as calls for immediate and violent 
disruption, at all hazard. So Paul did not counsel." 

*♦*****♦*♦ 

"After all the spouting and vehemence on this subject, which 
have been exhibited, \.hQ good old book remains the same — [that 
is, in favor of slavery.] Paul's conduct and advice are still safe 
guides. Paul knew well that Christianity would ultimately de- 
stroy slavery, as it certainly will. He knew, too that it would 
destroy monarchy and aristocracy from the earth; for it is fun- 
damentally a doctrine of true liberty and equality. Vet Paul 
did not expect slavery and monarchy to be ousted in a dav; and 
gave precepts to Christians respecting their demeanor ./(/ in- 
terim. 

" With sincere and fraternal regard, 

" Your friend and brother, 

" M. Stuart." 

Rev. Wilbur Fisk, d. d., to a friend : — 

"This, sir [referring to the preceding letter], is doctrine that 
will stand, because it is Bible doctrine. The abolitionists, then, 
are on the wrong course. They have travelled out of their 



48 

record; and if they would succeed, they must take a diflferent 
position, and approach the subject in a different manner. 

" Respectfully yours, \V. FiSK." 

There are several things in tins letter, and the endorse- 
ment by Dr. Fisk, which deserve particular attention. 

1. The writer and endorser, at the time of its publica- 
tion, were both engaged in fitting young men for the min- 
istry, and the former still occupies the same responsible 
station. 

2. The}' were elected to their respective offices by New 
England ministers ; and no objection has ever been made 
to their retaining their oihces on account of their opinions 
on slavery. They may, therefore, be considered as the 
representatives of the New England clergy, on the ques- 
tion of slavery. 

3. The opinions of no clergymen in the country have 
greater weight in their respective sects than those of Pro- 
fessor Stuart and Piesident P'isk. 

4. Both are united in opposing emancipation ; and they 
are equally responsible for all the sentiments and state- 
ments contained in tliis letter. 

5. The letter is as full and complete a recognition of 
slavery as any slave-claimant in the land could desire. It 
expressly says "that the relation may exist:" that is, 
one man may claim and use another's wife and children 
as his property '' without violating the Christian faith or 
the church I" " Slavery," it adds, "did exist, may exist! 
The ahitse of it is the essential and fundamental wrong!" 
That is, to convert a man into an article of merchandise, 
and exercise unlimited power over him, is not sinful; 
but whipping him unnecessarily may be. This is the 
doctrine of tlie letter. 

6. To maintain this doctrine, the letter states a gross 
and palpable /rt/.seAoor/. Tt says that Paul sent Onesimus 
back to Philemon "to be his servant for life." Nothing 
could be farther from the truth than this statement. Had 
the reverend authors of it said that Jesus himself was a 
slaveholder, they would not have been guilty of a greater 
libel or more horrible blasphemy ! Paul's language to 
Philemon cannot possibly be misunderstood. He calls 
Onesimus his son ; and tells Philemon to receive him as 
his '"'own howels ;" that is, as his own offspring. He tells 
him expressly to receive him " not noic as a servant, hut 
above a servant, a brother beloved, both in the flesh and in the 
Lord." He tells him still further, '^receive him as myself;" 
that is, as you would the great Apostle to the Gentiles ; 
and he adds, "if he oweth thee aught, put that on my ac- 



49 

count; I will repay it." And he remarks in apology for 
sending back Onesimus, that he had perfect confidence in 
Philemon, that he would do even more for him than he 
had asked. And yet with this plain and unequivocal 
statement before them, these distinguished biblical schol- 
ars have the audacity to tell us, that Paul sent Onesimus 
back " to be a sercant for life ! " Alas ! to what lengths 
slave-claimants and their abettors will go, in supporting 
their horrible system ! They vvill beat, imprison, and 
burn abolitionists, and lie, and blaspheme the God of 
heaven, in its defence! We have here, in immediate con- 
nection, five clergymen, three of them publicly advocating 
Lynch law; and the remaining two publishing to the 
world the most glaring and libellious falsehoods, for the 
purpose of destroying the remnant of sympathy which is 
still felt for the helpless victims of their power! 

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLIES, OLD AND NEW 
SCHOOL. 

The course pursued by these bodies on the subject of 
slavery is a/flc simile of that adopted by the United States 
Congress. They have never taken any action on the sub- 
ject in favor of emancipation, and have generally succeeded 
in preventing a full discussion of it; although it has at 
times crept in, and caused them no little trouble. This, 
however, is nothing more than was to be expected of 
bodies composed mainly of man-stealers, and those who 
legalize man-stealing. Indeed, ecclesiastical action against 
slavery, while their character remains what it now is, is 
not to be desired. 

The first thing which they can do for the slave, is to 
" repent and be converted," and become abolitionists in- 
deed. Till then, the adoption of resolutions against slavery 
would ouly render them more dangerous and formidable 
enemies of the cause of freedom, since it would enable 
them the more effectually to deceive and beguile many of 
its honest, but less discerning, friends. 

I might go into an extended narration of their proceed- 
ings, but they are too barren of interest to warrant the 
trouble. Suffice it to say, that while they refused, at their 
late meetings, to pass any censure on slaveholding, the 
Old school pronounced a man guilty of " ixckst," and de- 
posed him from the ministry, for marrying the sister of 
his deceased wife ; and the New bore a formal and very 
solemn testimony against dancing, as a sin not to be tol- 
erated in the church 1 
4 



50 

What would be thought of the Bey of Tunis, or the 
Sultan, should he enact a law prohibiting dancing in his 
doniinions, as a crime, and at the same time allow one 
class ol" his subjects to enslave and imbrute another, or 
sell them in the market. — as the executors of the late 
Rev. Dr. Furman, president of the Baptist Triennial Con- 
vention, recently sold twenty-seven native Americans 
under the hammer of the auctioneer, with "his theological 
library, two mules, one horse, and an oLl wagon ?" Such 
a demonstration of barbarism in a Mahometan prince 
would excite the astonishment and indignation of all 
Christendom. But in Christian 'U/icines " it is all well 
enough. At least, the great body of the people think so. 
Coming as it does from their priests, it is to them all gos- 
pel. 

But it is due to the Bey of Tunis (the man whom our 
American clergy look upon as a heathen, and to whom 
they are now sending missionaries) to say, in this connec- 
tion, that he has not only not enacted a law against the 
very harmless amusement of dancing, (David and the old 
prophets danced,) but that he has enacted a law prohibit- 
ing slaveholding in his dominions. Let the clergy of our 
country read the following letter from him to the British 
residents at Gibraltar. If it does not raise a blush upon 
their cheeks, it will be because they are lost to all sense of 
shame. 

Translation. 

" Praise be to God I 

'* From the servant of God, Musheer AhmeH Bashaw Bey, 
vSovereign Prince of the doniinions of Tunis, to the perfectly 
honored Englishmen, united together for the amelioration of the 
human race. — May God honor them ! 

" We have received the letter which you have forwarded to us, 
by the honored and reverend Richardson, congratulating us upon 
the measures* tliat we have adopted for the glory of mankind, 
to distinguish them fro)7i the brute creation. 

"Your letter has tilled us with joy and satisfaction. 

" May God aid us in our efforts — may he enable us to accom- 
plish the objects of our hopes — and may he accept this our work ! 

" May you live continually under the protection of God Al- 
mighty ! 

"Given at Tunis, 26th day Elhojah, 1257. [7th Feb., 1842.]" 



* The abolition of slavery throughout his doniinions. 



51 
THE BAPTIST CHURCH. 

This church contains nearly l,00r),000 members, not far 
from 100,0 iO of %vlioin are in s'avery, and many of them 
the goods and cliattels of tlieir own ministers, and breth- 
ren. In territory, it embraces the wliole Tnion ; but its 
memV)ers are most numerous at the Soutii. The different 
congregations or churches are independent of each other 
in regard to ecclesiastical jurisdiction ; but they are all 
united in one body, through their state and other local 
associations, and a General Convention, which meets once 
in three years^ and under whose direction the foreign 
missionary operations of the church are carried on. Be- 
sides the (Jeneral Convention, there is also a Baptist 
Home Mission Society, and an American and Foreign 
Bil)le Society, in which all the different sections of the 
country are represented, and through which the bond of 
union and fellowship between the local churches is strength- 
ened, and rendered more apparent to the world. 

The communion table of each of the chnrcho- is free to 
all the others, except in a few cases where resolutions have 
heeu adopted excluding slaveholders (slave-claimants); 
but these churches invite to their table those who com- 
mune with Southern man-stealers, so that their connection 
with them is unbroken. Xo church has yet severed itself 
from the slaveholding body; and hence all who are con- 
nected with any one of them, are members of that body, 
and resjionsihle for its acts; nor is there any essential dif- 
ference in the moral condition of the different members, 
for the same blood which Hows about the heart circulates 
into the most distant exti'emity of every limb. No church 
has espoused the anti-slavery cause in opposition to the 
body, and demanded its division. In this regard the 
Xorth and South are essential/ 1/ alike. In both, slavery 
finds warm friends and firm supporters. In both, there 
are also those who desire its al>olition, but whose desires 
are not su^hciently strong to induce them to separate from 
a slaveholding church. They love their church organiza- 
tion, corrupt as it is, better than they love the cause of the 
bleeding slave. Hence they cling to it. and oppose the 
genuine abolitionists, who go for entire separation from 
slave-breeders and their Northern abettors.* 

Soon after the last Tiiennial Convention, a Provisional 
Foreign Mission Committee was appointed by the disaf- 
fected Baptist ministers of the New Organization, for the 
ostensible purjiose of carrying on a system of missionary 
operations among the heatlien, disconnected with slavery ; 



52 

but it proved to be a mere trick of the clergy, to quiet the 
anti-slavery agitation. All the movers of it are, to this 
day, in full fellowship with the Baptist church or denom- 
ination, as a Christian body; and that church is made up, 
mainly, of slave-claimants and those who legalize shivery. 
And besides, a large sum of money that was raised from 
abolitionists, on condition that it should not be mingled 
with the blood-stained contributions of the South, was ap- 
propriated to the use of the old man-stealing board, as 
will appear from the following resolution, unanimously 
adopted at the first, or an early meeting of the Provisional 
Foreign Mission Committee : — 

" Whereas the Foreign Mission Board have recently sustained 
a heavy loss by the failure of their banker at Calcutta, and thus 
appropriated supplies are cut off from the missionaries in Asia; 
Therefore, 

" Resolved, — 

" That the treasurer of this committee be instructed to for- 
ward, as soon as po?si )le, five hundred dollars, from funds now 
in the treasury, to the relief of the missionaries, to be expended 
under the direction of Dr. Judson and Mr. Vinton. 

" Simon G. Shipley, Chairman. 

" Charles W. Dennison, Recording Secretary." 

A second missionary association has recently been 
formed by a portion of the same disaffected members, 
called the American and Foreign Baptist Missionary So- 
ciety ; but it is only another limb of the old man-stealing 
Baptist body. The leaders in it are still in Christian fel- 
lowship with Drs. Sharp, BoUes, and Wayland, and Hon. 
Kichard Fletcher, all of Avhom are oificers of the old 
board ; and also with the Baptists generally of the North, 
who legalize slavery. The organization of these new 
missionary associations is only a family quarrel, and not 
a division in the family. But the case is one which de- 
mands separation, like that which took place in the Con- 
gregational church when a portion of it embraced the 
Unitarian faith. 

The last General Convention of the Baptist church was 
characterized by base servility to the slave power, and 
utter recreancy to every principld of Christianity. The 
North and South there met together in loving fellowship, 
to advance the kingdom of the Redeemer. Every section 
of the church was fully represented. The slave-claimant, 
the Northern apologist of slavery, and the New-Organiz- 
ationist, were all there, and sat clown together. 'J'hey 
took the object of their meeting into ''prai/erful consider- 
ation," and invoked the divine blessing upon it. But — 



53 

O, tell it not in Algiers ! — their first act was to choose a 
TiiiKF to preside over their deliberations. Subsequently, 
another thief was selected to preach the sermon ; and 
yet another to make the prayer preparatory to the elec- 
tion of the Missionary Board ; and he, doubtless, prayed 
to the God of thieves ; for their next act was to drop 
the venerable Elon (ialusha from the board, and elect a 
fourth thief to till his place ! And to close the farce, they 
united over the communion table in singing the hymn 
beginning with the following lines : — 

' " Lo, what an entertaining sight 
Are brethren who agree !" 

Such was the character of the last Triennial Conven- 
tion. And yet the Xew-Organized Baptist ministers, who 
had separated from the American Anti-Slavery Society 
because woiuen were allowed to stand upon its platform, 
saw no occasion to withdraw from it. They could par- 
ticipate in a Baptist Convention whose president was a 
man-stealing doctor of divinity; but they could not re- 
main in an anti-aUiverji meeting, where women were per- 
mitted to speak. Alas, how true it is thut a sectarian 
cannot be an honest man ! — But I am consuming too much 
time with my own remarks. I will let the Baptists speak 
for themselves. They can tell their own story better than 
I can tell it. 

. Rev. \Vm. H. Brisbane, corresponding secretary of the 
American and Foreign Baptist Missionary Society (for- 
merly a slave-owner) : — 

"As a body, the Baptists of this country are still united in 
supporting, directly or indirectly, slavery and slave-trading, and, 
by consequence, ail of its terrible evils. Baptists who have no 
slaves themselves are in intimate communion with those who 
have them. A very considerable proportion of Baptist ministers 
are slaveholders, and yet they have free access to the pulpits in 
almost every part of our common country; yea, they adminis- 
ter, oftentimes by invitation of those who possess no slaves, the 
sacred elements of the Lord's supper. In the Baptist (General 
Convention, for the thirty years of its organization, slaveholders 
and non-slaveholders have met in common fellowship. Its 
presidents have, r>r the most part, been slaveholders." 

Rev. Lucius Bolles, d. d., corresponding secretary of 
the American Baptist Board of Foreign Missions : — 

"There is a pleasing degree of union among the multiplying 
thousands of Baptists throughout the land. Brethren fn)m all 
parts of the country meet in one general convention, and co- 
operate in sending the gospel to the heathen. Our Soul/tern 



54 

brethren are liberal and zealous in the promotion of every holy 
enterprise for the extension of the gospel. 1 hey are generally^ 
both ministers and people, slaveholders.'''' 

The Baptist man-thieves of the South are liberal and 
zealous in the promotion of every holy enterprise, for- 
sooth ! ! So says a leading d. d. of the Baptist church of 
the North. And he tells us, further, that there is a pleas- 
ing degree of union between these inan-stealers and the 
multiplying thousands of Baptists throughout the land ! 
This is doubtless true ; but to whom is this union pleas- 
ing? Not, surely, to the despairing slave; nor to God, 
who can himself, of course, have no possible union with 
thieves, although they may be very good Baptists and 
Baptist ministers. But it is pleasing to the slave-master, 
and to the Baptist clergy generally ; and it is doubtless 
pleasing to (heir father. Slavery is greatly strengthened 
by it ; and whatever strengthens that institution, cannot 
be otherwise than pleasing to him. 

Rev. W. B. Johnson, d. D.,of South Carolina, president 
of the last General Convention : — 

" When, in any country, slavery has become a part of its 
settled policy, the inhabitants, even Christians, may hold slaves 
withotit crime.^^ 

Rev. Daniel Sharp, Massachusetts, to Rev. Otis Smith : 

" In regard to church action in the case I consider it both 
inexpedient and iinscriptiiral. There were, undotd>tedly, both 
slaveholders and slaves in the primitive churches. I, therefore, 
for one, do not feel myself at liberty to make conditions of com- 
tminion lohich neither Christ Jtor his apostles made. I do tiot 
consider myself wiser or better than they were. Nor have I yet 
made such progress in knowledge as to believe that a good end 
sanctifies ujijustifiable means. I believe that a majority of the 
wisest and best men at the North hold to these sentiments. But 
if I stood alone, here I shall remain immovable, unless I gain 
some new light, which, at my period of life, I do not expect. 
" I am yours truly, 

" Daniel Sharp."' 

Rev. R. Funnan, d. d.. South Carolina, to the governor 
of the state, 1833 :— 

" The right of holding slaves is clearly established in the 
Holy Scriptures, both by precept and example." 

On the death of Dr. F., which occurred soon after, 
among the property advertised by his executor to be sold 
at public auction, was " a library of miscellaneous char- 
acter, chiefly theological, twenty-seven negroes, some of 



55 

them very prime, two mules, one horse,, and an old wag- 
on." Query — Were any of the Negroes whom Dr. Fur- 
man lett, at his denth, to be sold at auction with his 
mules and horse, his own children ? I am nmch inclined 
to think they were. For the doctor derives his sanction 
for holding slaves from the " example" of the patriarchs ; 
and if my memory serves me, they made concubines of 
their handmaids. I know of no good reason why their 
example should not serve in the one case, as well as in 
the other. Nor will the revelations which have been 
made within the past few years warrant ine in thinking 
that our modern doctors of divinity would be less likely 
to imitate the example of Abraham, in the use which he 
made of his property, Ilagar, than in his claim to her, as 
such. I know nothing of the private habits of Dr. Fur- 
man, but he was a slaveholder and an adrocate of slavery ; 
and 1 have already shown that every slaveholder is an 
adulterer ; nay, that he is guilty of a crime of a much 
deeper dye. I should be afraid to trust a friend of mine 
in the company of any jnan who would sell, or hold, her, 
or any other woman, as a slave ! Such a man is a liber- 
tine at heart, and has not the least possible regard for 
female chastity ; otherwise he could never consent to see, 
much less to iiold, any of the sex in the helpless and un- 
protected condition of a slave. It is proper to add that 
Dr. Furman was president of the Baptist General Con- 
vention a short time previous to his death. 

The Charleston Baptist Association (extract of an Ad- 
dress to the Legislature of South Carolina) : — 

"The question, it is believed, is purely one of political econ- 
omy. It amounts, in effect, to this — IVhctker the operatives of 
a country shall be bought and sold, iTnd themselves become prop- 
erty, as iti this state ; or whether they shall be hirelings, and 
their labor only become property, as in some other states ; in 
other words, whether an emph^yer may buy the whole lime of 
laborers at once, of those who have a right to dispose of it, 
with a permanent relation of protection and care over them, or 
whether he shall be restricted to buy it in certain portions only, 
subject to their control, and with no such permanent relation of 
care and protection. The right of masters to dispose of the time 
of their slaves has been distinctly recognized by the Creator of 
all things, who is surely at liberty to vest the right of property 
over any object in whomsoever he pleases. That the lawful 
possessor should retain this right at will, is no more against the 
laws of society and good morals, than that he should retain the 
personal endowments with which his Creator has blessed him, 
or the money and lands inherited from his ancestors, or acquired 
by his industry." 



56 

WTiat will the working men and women of the North 
say to this doctrine' of the Baptist clergy that " the oper- 
atives of a country shall be bought and sold, and them- 
selves become property V At the South, many of the 
Baptist brethren are the property of their priests : are 
the Northern brethren ready to become the property of 
theirs ? Dr. Bolles and Dr. Sharp, who are now enjoying 
" a pleasing degree of union " with this same Charleston 
Baptist Association, would doubtless be glad to own some 
of them. They are now nothing but ''hikelings," in 
the estimation of the Charleston Association : would it 
not suit as well, if a slight change were made in their re- 
lations, so that, instead of being "hirelings," as at present, 
they should become the property of their employers ? I 
am amazed that any working man or woman in the coun- 
try can look upon the Baptist church with any other feel- 
ings than those of abhorrence and alarm ! These minis- 
ters would sell every soul of them into slavery, if they 
had the power to do it ; for they have no more regard 
for their rights and liberty, than they have for those they 
now hold in bondage. 

The Goslien Association, Virginia : — 

Resolved, — 

" I. That we consider our right and title to this property 
[slaves] altogether legal and bonaf.de, and that it is a breach 
of the faith pledged in the Federal Constitution, for our North- 
ern brethren to try, either directly or indirectly, to lessen the 
value of this property, or impair our title thereto." 
Resolved, — 

" 2. That we view [in the movements of the abolitionists] the 
torch of the incendiary, and the dagger af the midnight assas- 
sin, loosely concealed under the specious garb of humanity and 
religion, falsely so called." 

The Savannah River Baptist Association, in reply to 
the question, 

" Whether, in the case of involuntary separation, of such a 
character as to preclude all prospect of future intercourse, the 
parties ought to be allowed to marry again." 

A nswer, — 

" That such separation among persons situated as our slaves 
are, is civilly a separation by death, and they believe that, in 
the sight of God, it would be so viewed. To forbid second 
marriages in such cases, would be to expose the parties, not 
only to stronger hardships and strong temptation, but to church 
censure, for acting in obedience to their masters, who cannot be 
expected to acquiesce in a regulation at variance with justice to 



57 

the slaves, and to the spirit of that command which regulates 
marriage among Christians. The slaves are not free agenls, and 
a dissolution by death is not more entirely without their consent, 
and beyond their control, by such separation.'' 

Hung be the heavens in sackcloth I — I.et the sun liide 
his iace in darkness, as ^vhen the inlatuated Je^Ys nailed 
tlie Son of God to the cross!— and let there be a jubilee 
in Hell! — What have v\e liere? An ecclesiastical decis- 
ion wliich sets the authoi ity of Jehovah at nought, and 
blots out the lieaven-ordained institution of marriage 
among 2,7()O,0<)0 of our own countrymen ! — the decree of 
a council of Baptist clergymen in favor of second mar- 
riages, whilst both tlie parties to the original aie still liv- 
ing ! ! Tliese vile hypocrites aie not satistied with tearing 
asunder the loving pair whom (iod has joined in lioly 
wedlock, and forcing them to take to their bosoms other 
companions whom they cannot love, and should not, if 
they could; but they must make God accessory to the in- 
fernal deed. They gravely tell us tliat, lie regards it as 
" a separation by death,"' and, of course, tliat he will hold 
them guiltless. Tliis is the religion of the Baptist churcli ! 
These are the men with whom Dr. Holies assures us the 
multiplying thousands of I^aptists throughout the country 
are enjoying a pleasing degree of union. 

If there be a (iod in heaven who takes cognizance of 
the actions of men, and if there be in reserve a place of 
punishment for the guilty, where every one sliall receive 
his due reward, I think the day of final retribution must 
be a trt/inf/ one to the Baptist church. Xo crime w as ever 
perpetrated by depraved mortals which, as a body, they 
have not sanctioned. They have wrested the sce])tre of 
dominion from the hand of .lehovali, abrogated his law, 
and made themselves the suiu'eme sovereigns of thousands 
of his children, whose bodies and souls they have con- 
verted into merchandise, and now offer for sale in market 
with the neighing horse and lowing ox. 

They have anniliilated the sacred institution of marriage, 
and legalized adultery and rape in their most odious and 
hateful forms, making thousands of the female members 
of their own church "the Bkkkdeks on their plantations, 
whose offspring are torn from them with as little reluct- 
ance as the calf is torn from the • cow !— Their crimes 
would put Atheism itself to the blush. Did ever Thomas 
Paine or Abner Kneeland advocate forced concubinage? 
Did they ever contend for man's right to' unlimited power 
over woman ? lUit this is advocated by the Baptist church. 
Slavery is nothing but a system of forced concubhiageaud 



58 

adulteiy ! It gives woman up into the power of her owner, 
to do with her as he pleases I Thousands of the Baptists 
of this country claim, and exerci^e^ this power over the fe- 
male sex ; and more than nine tenths of the remainder 
authorize their claim an(i assist them to maintain it. 

Can any woman in the Baptist church be pure in heart? 
I think not, if she possess sufficient intejligence to under- 
stand the nature of her church relations. ^>he is an adul- 
tress at heart ; otherwise she could not fellowship a church 
which had annihilated tiie marriage in>titution, and 
thrown a million of her sisters into the market for pur- 
poses of prostitution. By her fellowship of slaveholders, 
she shows that she has, at heart, no abhorrence of an 
adulterous connection ; and if she is herself kept from 
it, it is only by the force of external circumstances. Jf 
Jeremiah could say of the Jewish church m his day, that 
they \vere " ail adulterers,'' with how much more force 
and propriety may this charge be brought against the 
Baptist church, whose most distinguished ministers 
" have given a boy for a harlot, and sc^ld a gii'l for wine, 
that they might driidc !" nay to have even i-y/ J girls /or 
wine for their communion table!! — But I must leave this 
painful picture, and turn to 

THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

Of this church 1 have little to say; for, from the very 
nature of its organization, and the character of the ele- 
ments of which it is composed, it is the very last of all 
the sects to which any cause of reform should look for 
aid. From the commencement of our enterprise, it has 
been an inveterate enemy of abolition, and has thrown 
its entire inliuence, as a body, into the scale of slavery. 
Among its members have been found a few sterling abo- 
litionists, but fewer probal)ly, in proportion to its whole 
numbers, than in any oilier denomination. I believe the 
first instance of the opening its meeting-houses for anti- 
slavery lectures is yet tt) be recorded ; and if, in its eccle- 
siastical capacity, it has done less to sustam slaver}', by 
positive action in its favor, than some of the other sects, 
it has not been for want of love for the system, but from 
its haughty and dignified indifference to all matters of 
general interest. Many of its ministers and members are 
slave-claimants, and nearly all of them legalize slavery, 
and strenuously oppose its abolition in the District of 
Columbia ; and in abusive treatment of people of color, 
they have, if possible, rivalled even the Methodifit chui'ch. 



59 

Some idea of the spirit which pervades this body 
towards that portion of our countrymen to whom God lias 
given a complexion differing from ours, may be gathered 
from the following extracts from a recent woik Irom the 
pen of Judge .Jay, himself a Churchman, entitled "Caste 
and Slavery in the American Church." 

Mr. Jay says : — 

" In the month of June, 1839, the Board of Trustees of the 
General Theological Seminary, composed of the bishops and 
clerical and lay delegates from the different states and .territo- 
ries, met at New York; and their proceedings were subse- 
quently published in a pamphlet. From the minutes, it ap- 
pears that a candidate for holy orders in the diocese of New 
York, now the Rev. Alkxand'i-.k (kimmki.i., applied to them, 
l)y petition, to be allowed to enter the seminary as a student; 
that the petition was referred to a committee consisting of 
the Right Rev. Bp. II. U. Ondkkdo.nk, Rev. Drs. Ja.mks Mil- 
NoK and Hn;ii Smith, and \V.\f. Johnson, D.wid B. Oguen, 
and Edward A. Xkwton, Ksquires, who, after deliberate con- 
sideration, recommended a resolution of rejection, which, on 
the motion of the Rev. Francis L. Hawkks, d. d., was adopt- 
ed; that the Right Rev. liishop Doank asked leave to enter 
his protest against the decision, and that leave was not granted. 
Neither the reasons for their decision, nor the disciualitication 
of the candidate, are even intimated by the minutes; but it 
does appear, that the right of every candidate fv)r orders to en- 
ter the seminary was expressly guaranteed by the constitution, 
which the trustees were bound to obey; and that this fact was 
well known to them, also appears from an amendment pro- 
posed by the bishop of New York, while the matter was pend- 
ing, to the very clause uj)on which they were tram])ling. 

'• The true cause which led the trustees to nullify the consti- 
tution and deny the right of the candidate, and which they 
were ashamed to acknowledge, was, that he was a c 0/0 re c/ m2.n; 
and this was the ou/y cause — his diocesan. Bishop Onderdonk, 
of New York, having declared in ' The churchman' (Nov. 4, 
iS39),that he explicitly stated to them, ' that it they should 
think it right and proper to admit a ctn.oRKD man into the 
Seminary, he considered the applicant before them one in whose 
case it niii^ht loilh ^reat safety and prop riity be done.' 

"The Rev. Peter Williams, tor many years a respectable 
clergyman of New York, was never allowed to sit as a member 
of the Diocesan Convention, nor has the Church of St. Philip, 
of whi.h he was the pastor, been yet represented in that body. 
Me died soon after the act of the trustees, upon which we 
have been remarking, was exposed to the worUl; and to coun- 
teract, as far as possible, the indignation it had excited, 
the clergy in a body, attended bis funeral, and the bishop of 
New York pronounced from the pulpit a high elogium upon his 



GO 

character. Several of the clergy admitted that it was done 
merely for effect, and one of them bitterly remarked at the 
funeral, that the empty honors to the lifeless dust were a poor 
atonement for the insults so often offered to the living man. 
The Rev. Mr. DeGrasse, another colored clergyman of the 
Episcopal church, of Hne talents, excellent acquirements, and 
amiable disposition, — who, three years previously to the appli- 
cation of Mr. Crummell, had been excluded from the Seminary, 
and who, after a residence of some years in this city, sought in 
the West Indies the respectful treatment and sympathy he 
could not find at home, and there ended his early years by a 
Christian's death, — once said to the writer, with tears in his 
eyes, ' 1 feel that the bishop and many of the clergy are against 
us — that they do not want any colored clergymen in the church. 
I have struggled against the conviction, but it is impossible to 
resist it; the proofs are too strong; I experience it daily; I 
know it is so.' 

" In the diocese of Pennsylvania, an express canon debars the 
African church from being represented in the Convention, and 
excludes the rector from a seat. Truly ! a singular picture to 
be exhibited by Christians meeting as a council of the church; 
but the limits of caste stop not here. Beautifully says the 
poet — 

'Aie we not brothers? 

So man and man should be; 

But clay anri clay ditftrs iu dignity, 

Whose dust is both alike.' 

" Since Shakspeare wrote, even the dust has learned to claim 
precedence over dust; and No/i me tangere is daintily in- 
scribed upon the mouldering coffin-lid. 

"Ay ! this ' aristocracy of color ' is maintained not only in 
God's temples, but even in that last abode where all distinctions 
have been supposed to disappear. In the very graveyard where 
Death reigns as conqueror, and worms revel on the mouldering 
remains of manliness and beauty; where pride, and pomp, and 
power, have doffed their trappings, and have said to corruption, 
Thou art my father, and to the worms, Thou art my mother and 
my sister; where the voice of passion is forever stilled, and the 
heart that has ceased to beat is as cold as the marble beneath 
which it reposes; — even here, among the tombs. Prejudice 
has liis dwelling, lii<e the demoniac of old, and Caste, under 
the sanction of the church, rears its hideous and revolting form. 
How many similar instances there may be, we know not; that 
we cite has come under our immediate notice. The vestry ai-d 
wardens of an Episcopal church in the diocese of New York, a 
few years since, accepted a deed for a cemetery, which was de- 
mised to them upon the express condition embodied in the in- 
denture, * that they should never suffer any colored person to be 
buried in any part of the same;' and all the subsequent con- 
veyances on the part of the church, of vaults and burial-places, 
are subject to the same conditions." 



61 

THE UNITARIAN AND UNIVERSALIST 
CHURCHES. 

Whoever has bestowed an hour's serious reflection on 
the nature and tendency of ecclesiastical institutions, 
will see that these churches have much less power to harm 
any work of reform, than those sects which are called 
evangelical. From the looseness cf their organization, 
and the Anti- Pharisaic character of their professions, 
their ecclesiastical influence is comparatively limited, 
either for good or for evil. Their influence is more that 
of the individual; and in relation to slavery, they stand 
much nearer the position of non-church communicants, than 
do the other sects. But still they have an ecclesiastical 
existence and, of course, some ecclesiastical influence; and 
that influence, however trifling it may have been, has all 
been given in support of slavery. As a body, they have 
given the anti-slavery cause no countenance. The least 
that can in truth be said of them is, that, ecclesiastically, 
tliey have walked in the footsteps of the priest and the 
Levite, straight by the poor, bleeding slave, on the other 
side, or have turned aside only to cast a cold and heartless 
look upon his wretchedness ; while in the capacitv of citi- 
zens, they have joined his oppressors, and assisted in 
stripping him of his rights, and plundering his domestic 
hearthstone. And as they profess to be Christians, and 
members of the church of Christ, and at the same time 
ler/alize slavery and the slave trade, and also fellowship 
slave-claimants as Christians, there is no essential differ- 
ence between them and the other sects. They are all un- 
der the same condemnation, and are alike the enemies of 
truth and impartial freedom. 

THE FREE-WILL BAPTISTS AND THE SOCIETY 
OF FRIENDS. 

These sects, like all the others, when weighed in the 
balance of truth, are found wanting. As bodies, they 
claim to be anti-slavery ; but their claim is like that of 
the Pharisee, who thanked CJod that he was not like that 
publican who stood by his side, when at the same time 
he was the moi'e guilty of the two. It is t^-ue that they 
have spoken against slavery ; and spoken, too, in strong 
terms of reprobation ; but it is equally true, that with 
both hands they have upheld it ; and they m^w stand be- 
fore the world in a more reprehensible light than any of 



62 

the other sects. From motives of self interest, or an un- 
willingness to depart from a rule introduced bv their 
fathers, they admit no slave-claimant to their fellowship ; 
but at the same time, as a body, they stand entirely aloof 
from the anti-slaveiy enterprise, or openly oppose it. 
And while sending forth to the world their resolutions 
and testimonies against slavery, they legalize it, and do 
whatever lies in their power to render it popular, and con- 
sequently permanent, by electing man-stealers to fill the 
highest offices in the government. At the ballot-box, no 
sect in the land is more notoriously subservient to the 
slave power than the P^-ee-Will Baptists. 

]n New Hampshire, where they are very numerous, 
they are principally connected with the Democratic 
party ; and it was chiefly through their instrumentality, 
that that poor apologi/ for a man, Charles G. Atherton, 
was returned to Congress, after having disgraced himself 
and his country by consenting to be made a cat's-paw by 
Southern slav^-hreeders, to tear in pieces the sacred right 
of petition ! It was in their power to prevent his reelec- 
tion, and return to Congress a thorough-going abolition- 
ist in his stead ; but he was the man of their choice ! And 
yet, at this vei-y time, they were passing flaming resolu- 
tions against slavery, and making loud professions of abo- 
litionism ! 

1 have said that the American church and clergy, as a 
body, were Pirates. Is this charge true, so far as it re- 
lates to the Free-AVill Ba{)tists and Quakers? It is, if 
aiding and abetting pirates, and protecting them while 
engaged in perpetrating their atrocities, constitutes one a 
pirate; for both of these sects legalize and protect a 
species of commerce in the United States, which they 
have declared to be piracy, when carried on upon the 
coast of Africa. Am T told that they have acted 
ignorantjy in this matter? My reply is, if they are men 
of common-sense, they must and do know that voting for 
slave-claimants and the advocates and supporters of 
slavery to legislate for the country, tends to perpetuate 
the bloody system. Would they vote for such men if 
their own wives and children were in slavery? So long as 
they are connected with slaveholding political parties, 
their resolutions and testimonies against slavery only 
serve to enhance their guilt, and aggravate their condem- 
nation. 

If the government had instituted a system of idol wor- 
ship, and a hundred oxen were daily offered in sacrifice 
ou the altar of some distinguished god, in the city of 



63 

Washington, by an order of Congress, what would you 
say of that religious sect, who should pass resolves against 
idolatry, and at the same time vote for men to represent 
them in Congress who wei'e opposed to the abolition of 
these sacrifices, and also elect a high-priest of this deity 
to fill the presidential chair? But such (Mjnduct would 
not be more hypocritical and reprehensible than the con- 
duct of the Free-Wiil Jiaptists and Friends, and the other 
religious bodies that have adopted resolutions against 
slavery ! 

The remarks which I have made upon the Free- Will 
Baptists ^nd Friends, will apply with equal force to those 
branches of other sects which have adopted resolutions 
against slavery. This kind of action, so long as they 
stand connected with pro-slavery parties, either political 
or ecclesiastical, only renders their inliuence more formid- 
able to the anti-slavery enterprise ; and consequently their 
guilt is })i'oportionably increased. They tell us that slav- 
ery is a heinous sin and crime, and yet act in concert with 
those W'ho advocate and uphold it ! Hence, on their own 
confession, they are the " companions of thieces," and in 
fellowship with adulterers. In my general charges, there- 
fore, against the sects, no exception is requiied in favor 
of those local churches which claim to be anti-slavery, on 
the ground of having adojited anti-slavery resolutions, 
while they are still connected with their respective secta- 
rian denominations, and in Chiistian fellowship with 
those who act in concert with pro-slavery political })arties. 
The least that can in truth be said of such churches is, 
that they are the lukewarm friends of the slave, whom 
God will spew oil/ of his inouth. 

I had intended to speak, in thrs connection, of the char- 
acter and tendency of our so-called benevolent institu- 
tions ; but having already far exceeded the limits which 
I originally proposed to myself in this letter, \ must pass 
them by with the single remark, that connected with the 
Boards of most of them are more or less slave-claimants, 
and their treasuries arc polluted with the price of human 
blood ! — and that the money which our clergy beg of poor 
widows to send the gospel to the heathen, goes into the 
hands of such men as Rev. Win. S. Plummer, d. d., the 
man who called upon the Richmond mob to '* catch " the 
abolitionists and give them a "warming at tiiI': fimk !" 
For the same reason, I have also omitted to notice several 
of the smaller religions denominations. I would here say 
of them, however, that the}^ are all composed of secta- 
rians, and not abolitionists ; and hence they belong to the 



64 

same category with the larger and more influential sects, 
and should he regarded in a similar light. 

Rut I trust I have already adduced abundant evidence 
on this heart-rending subject, to substantiate my allega- 
tions against the American church and clergy. "Witii 
this picture before him, no one, I think, will say that I 
have done them injustice. True, I have brought against 
them the most tremendous charges ! I have denounced 
them, as a body, as thieves, adulterers, man-steal- 
ERS, PIRATES, and murderers! But who, in view of the 
frightful and accumulated proof of their guilt, which I 
have here presented, can deny these chai-ges ? Who, that 
has a mind capable of understanding the political and 
ecclesiastical connection of the church and clergy with 
the slave system, as I have here portrayed it, and can 
comprehend the direful consequences of that connection, 
will dare to say that God will hold them guiltless of these 
crimes? Gladly would I believe them innocent; but 
reason, conscience, and nn^ outraged sense of justice, all 
forbid the thought. 

I will close this part of my argument with a few speci- 
mens of the fruits of slavery, as it exists in the midst, and 
under the control, of the religious influences of the coun- 
try. As your eye glances over the horrible picture which 
I am about to present, bear in mind that it is the legiti- 
mate and inevitable result of the system which the church 
and clergy geneially not only legalize, but baptize into the 
name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy 
Ghost. It is heart-rending, indeed, to see humanity thus 
mangled and bruised ; but so it must ever be until slaveiy 
itself shall be abolished; for it cannot exist without the 
exercise of the most horrible cruelties. It is only in the 
presence of whips, and chains, and branding-irons, that 
the slave will submit to his degraded condition. 

The following advertisements are from Southern news- 
papers, and are only a very few of the many thousands 
of similar ones, which blacken the columns of the South- 
ern press : 

" Committed to jail as a runaway, a negro woman named 
Martha, 17 or 18 years of age — has nimieroiis scars of ike whip 
on her back." D. JUDD, Jailor, Davidson County, Tenn. 

"Ten dollars reward for my woman Siby, very much scarred 
about the neck and ears by whipping^ 

Robert Nicholl, Mobile, Ala. 
" Ran away, a negro woman, named Maria — some scars on 
her back, occasioned by the 7ohipy 

Bryant Johnson, Fort Valley, Houston County, Ga. 



65 

" Stolen, a negro woman, named Celia — on examining her 
back, you will find marks caused by the 7uhip.'" 

' James T. De Jarnett, Vernon, Autauga County, Tenn. 

" Lodged in jail, a mulatto boy, having large marks of the 
whip on his shoulders and other parts of his body." 

Maurice Y. Garcia, 
Sheriff of the County of Jefferson, La. 

" Was committed, a negro boy named Tom — is much marked 
7viih the whip.'''' 

R. J. Bland, Sheriff of Claiborne County, Miss. 

" Ran away a negro fellow named Dick — has many scars on 
his back from being whipped^ 

James Noe, Red River Landing, La. 

"Committed to jail, a negro slave; his back 'vi very badly 
scarred. WiLLlAM Craze, Jailor, Alexandria, La. 

" Committed a mulatto fellow — his back shows lasting im- 
pressions of thezuhip, and leaves no doubtof his being A slave." 
John A. Rowland, Jailor, Lumberton, N. C. 

" Committed to jail, a negro man — his back much marked'by 
the whip." J. K. Roberts, Sheriff, Blount County, Ala. 

•' Ran away, the negro slave named Jupiter — has z. fresh mark 
of a cowskin on one of his cheeks." H. Varillat, N. O. 

" Ran away, a negro man named Johnson — he has a great 
many marks of the whip on his back." 

Cornelius D Tolin, Augusta, Ga. 

" Ran away, Bill — has several large scars on his back, from 
a severe whipping in early life." 

John WatTON, Rockville, Montgomery County, Md. 

" Ran away, a boy named Jim — with the marks of the whip 
on the small of the back, reaching round to the flank." 

Samuel Stewart, Greensboro', Ala. 

•' Brought to Jail, a negro man named George — he hasa^r<fa/ 
many scars from the lash.'''' 

S. B. Murphy. Sheriff, Wilkinson County, Ga. 

" Was committed to jail, a yellow boy named Jim — had on a 
large lock chain around his neck.''^ 

William Toler, Sheriff of Simpson County, Miss. 

" Ran away, a negro named David — with some iron hobbles 
around each ankle.'' Haslet Loflano, Staunton, Va. 

Ran away, negress Caroline — had on a collar with one prong 
turned down.'' . T. Enggy, New Orleans. 

" Ran away, a black woman, Betsey — had an iron bar on her 
right leg." John Henderson, Washington County, Mi. 

5 



66 

" Was committed to jail, a negro named Ambrose — has a ring 
of iron around his neck^ 

William Dyer, Sheriff, Claiborne, La. 

Ran away, a negro man named Charles — had on a drawing 
chain, fastened around his ankle with a house lock." 

Francis Dukett, Lexington, Lauderdale County, Ala. 

" Ran away, the negro Manual, much marked with irons." 

A. MURAT, Baton Rouge. 

" Was committed to jail, a negro boy — had on a large neck 
iron with a huge pair of horns, and a large bar or band of 
iron on his left leg." 

H. Gridley, Sheriff of Adams County, Mi. 

" Ran away, the negro George — he had on his neck an iron 
collar, the branches of which had been taken off." 

Ferdinand Lemos, New Orleans. 

" Committed to jail, a man who calls his name John — he has 
a clog of iron on his right foot which will weigh four or five 
pounds:' B. W. Hodges, Jailor, Pike County, Ala. 

" Detained at the police Jail, the negro wench Myra — has 
several marks of lashing, and has irons on her feet:'' 

P. Bayhi, Captain of the Police. 

" Ran away, Betsey — when she left she had on her neck an 
iron collar:' Charles Kernan, Parish of Jefferson, La. 

" Ran away, a negro woman and two children — a few days 
before she went off / burnt her with a hot iron, on the left side 
of her face : I tried to make the letter M." 

MiCAjAH Rich, Nash County, N. C. 

" Ran away, Mary, a black woman — laas a scar on her back 
and right arm near the shoulder, caused by a rifle ball:' 

Asa B. Metcalf, Kingston, Adams County, Mi. 

" Ran away, a negro man named Henry, his left eye out, some 
scars from dirk on and under his left arm, and much scarred 
with the whip." 

William Overstreet, Benton, Yazoo Co., Mi. 

" Ran away, Sam — he was shot a short time since through the 
hand, and has several shots in his left arm and side:' 

O. W. Lains, Ark. 

" Ran away, my negro man Dennis — said negro has been 
shot in his left arm, between the shoulder and elbow, which has 
paralyzed the left hand." R. W. SiZER, Mi. 

" Ran away, my negro man named Simon — he has been shot 
badly in his back and right arm." Nicholas Edmunds, Va. 



67 

" Ran away, a negro girl called Mary— has a small scar over 
her eye, 2. good many teeth missing— the letter A is branded on 
her cheek and forehead.'" 

J. P. AsHFORD, Adams County, Mi. 

" Committed, a negro man — is very badly shot in the right side 
and right hand." S. B. MuRi'HY, Jailor, Irvington, Ga. 

•' Ran away, a negro man named Ned — three of his fingers are 
drawn into the palm of his hand by a f«/— has a scar on the 
back of his neck nearly half round, done by a knifed 

Is.\AC Johnson, Pulaski County, Ga. 
" Was committed to jail, a negro man— says his name is Jo- 
siah; his back is very much scarred by whip, and branded on 
the thigh and hips, in three or four places, thus, J. M.— the rim 
of his right ear has heeji bit or cut off."" 

J. L. JoLLEY, Sheriff of Clinton County, Mi. 

" Fifty dollars' reward for my fellow Edward —he has a scar 
on the corner of his mouth, two cuts on and under his arm, and 
the letter E on his armT 

Thomas Ledwith, Jacksonville, East Florida. 

'• Ran away, Anthony — one of his ears cut off, and his left 
hand cut with an axe." Stephen M. Jackson. 

" Ran away, Gabriel— has two or three scars across his neck, 
made with a knife." 

Lemuel Mh.es, Steen's Creek, Rankin County, Mi. 

" Ran away, my man Fountain— has holes in his ears, a 
scar on the right side of his forehead— has been shot in the hind 
parts of his legs—\s marked in the back with the whip." 

Robert Beasley, Macon, Ga. 

"TWENTY DOLLARS REWARD. Ran away from the 
subscriber, on the 14th in.stant, a negro girl named Molly. She 
is 16 or 17 years of age, slim made, lately branded on the 

LEFT CHEEK, THUS, R, AND A PIECE TAKEN OFF OF HER EAR ON 
the SAME SIDE; THE SAME LETTER BRANDED ON THE INSIDE 

OF BOTH HER LEGS." Abner Ross, Fairfield District, S. C. 

The Wilmington (North Carolina) Advertiser, of July 
18, 1888, contains tlie following advertisement :— 

" Ran away, my negro man Richard. A reward of $25 
will be paid for his apprehension, DEAD or ALIVE. Satis- 
factory proof will only be required of his being KILLED. 
He has with him, in all probability, his wife Eliza, who ran 
away from Col. Thompson, now a resident of Alabama, about 
the time he commenced his journey to that state." 

D. H. Rhodes. 

In the Macon (Georgia) Telegraph, May 28, is the fol- 
lowing : — 



68 

"About the ist of March last, the negro man Ransom left 
me without the least provocation whatever. I will give a re- 
ward of ^20 for said negro, if taken dead or alive, — and if 
killed in any attempt, an advance of $5 will be paid. 

" Crawford Co., Ga. Bryant Johnson." 

On the 28th of April, 1886, a colored man, named Mc- 
intosh, was seized by a mob, in the city of St. Louis, fast- 
ened to a tree in the midst of the city, in open day, and 
burnt to death, in the presence of an immense throng of 
citizens, who had assembled to give their countenance to 
the deed. The Alton (111.) Telef/mph contains the follow- 
ing notice of the scene : — 

"All was silent as death while the executioners were piling 
wood around their victim. He said not a word, until feeling 
that the flames had seized upon him. Then he uttered an awful 
howl, attempting to sing, and pray, then hung his head, and suf- 
fered in silence, except in the following instance : After the 
flames had surrounded their prey, his eyes burnt out of his head, 
and his mouth seemingly parched to a cinder, some one in the 
crowd, more compassionate than the rest, proposed to put an 
end to his misery by shooting him, when it was replied, ' that 
would be of no use, since he was already out of pain.' ' No, 
no,' said tne wretch, ' I am not. I am suffering as much as 
ever; shoot me, shoot me.' 'No, no,' said one of the fiends, 
who was standing about the sacrifice they were roasting, ' he 
shall not be shot. I zvould sooner slacken the fire, if that ii.<ould 
increase his misery ; and the man who said this, was, as we un- 
derstand, an officer of justice." 

The following scene is related by Kev. James A. Thome, 
son of Arthur Thome, of Augusta, Ky. : — 

"In December of 1833, I landed at New Orleans, in the 
steamer \V . It was after night, dark and rainy. The pas- 
sengers were called out of the cabin, from the enjoyment of a 
fire, which the cold, damp atmosphere rendered very comforta- 
ble, by a sudden shout of ' Catch him — catch him — catch the 
negro.' ihe cry was answered by a hundred voices — 'Catch 
him — kill him;' and a rush from every direction toward our 
boat indicated that the object of pursuit was near. The next 
moment we heard a man plunge into the river a few paces 
above us. A crowd gathered upon the shore, with lamps, and 
stones, and clubs, still crying, ' L'atch him — kill him — catch him 
— shoot him.' 

" I soon discovered the poor man. He had taken refuge un- 
der the prow of another boat, and was standing in the water up 
to his waist. The angry vociferation of his pursuers did not 
intimidate him. He defied them all. ' Don't you dare to come 
near me, or I will sink you in the river.' He was armed with 



69 

despair. For a moment the mob were palsied by the energy of 
his threatenings. They were afraid to go to him with a skiff, 
but a number of them went on to the boat, and tried to seize 
him. They threw a noose-rope down repeatedly, that they 
might pull hi >n up by the neck ! but he planted his hand firmly 
against the boat, and dashed the rope away with his arms. One 
of them took a long bar of wood, and, leaning over the prow, 
endeavored to strike him on the head. The blow must have 
shattered the skull, but it did not reach low enough. The mon- 
ster raised up the heavy club again, and said ' Come out now, 
you old rascal, or die.' ' Strike,' said the negro; 'strike — shiver 
my brains noiv ; I want to die;' and down went the club again, 
without striking. This was repeated several times. The mob, 
seeing their efforts fruitless, became more enraged, and threat- 
ened to stone him, if he didnot surrender himself into their 
hands. He again defied them, and declared he would drown 
himself in the river, before they should have him. They then 
resorted to persuasion, and promised they would not hurt him. 
* I'll die first;' was his only reply. Even the furious mob was 
awed, and for a while stood dumb. 

"After standing in the cold water for an hour, the miserable 
being began to fail. We observed him gradually sinking — his 
voice grew weak and tremulous — yet he continued to curse ! In 
the midst of his oaths he uttered broken sentences — * I didn't 
steal the meat — I didn't steal — my master lives — master — 
master lives up the river — [his voice began to gurgle in 
his throat, and he was so chilled that his teeth chattered audi- 
bly] — I didn't — steal — I didn't steal — my — my master — my — 
I want to see my master — I didn't — no — my mas — you want — 
you want to kill me — I didn't steal the — ' His last words could 
just be heard as he sank under the water." 

The Natchez Free Trader, of June, 1842, gives the fol- 
lowing account of the burninii- of a negro at L'nion Point, 
Miss. : — 

" The body was taken and chained to a tree immediately on 
the bank of the Mississippi, on what is called Union Point. 
Fagots were then collected, and piled around him, to which he 
appeared quite indifferent. When the work was completed, he 
was asked what he had to say. He then warned all to take 
example by him, and asked the prayers of all around; he then 
called for a drink of water, which was handed to him; he drank 
it, and said, ' Now set fire — I am ready to go in peace ! ' The 
torches were lighted and placed in the pile, which soon ignited. 
He watched unmoved the curling flame, that grew until it 
began to entwine itself around and feed upon his body: then he 
sent forth cries of agony painful to the ear, begging' some one 
to blow his brains out; at the same time surging with almost 
superhuman strength, until the staple with which the chain 
was fastened to the tree (not being well secured) drew out, and 



70 

he leaped from the burning pile. At that moment the sharp 
ringing of several rifles was heard : the body of the negro fell 
a corpse to the ground. He was picked up by some two or 
three, and again thrown into the fire and consumed — not a ves- 
tige remaining to show that such a being ever existed. 

" State of North Carolina, \ 
Lenoir County. / 

" Whereas complaint hath been this day made to us, two of 
the justices of peace for the said county, by William D. Cobb, of 
Jones county, that two negro slaves belonging to him, named 
BEN (commonly known by the name of Ben Fox) and RIG- 
DON, have absented themselves from their said master's service, 
and are lurking about in the counties of Lenoir and Jones, com- 
mitting acts of felony; — these are, in the name of the state, to 
command the said slaves forthwith to surrender themselves, and 
return home to their said master. And we do also hereby re- 
quire the sheriff of said county of Lenoir to make diligent 
search and pursuit after the above-mentioned slaves; and them 
having found, to apprehend and secure so that they may be 
conveyed to their said master, or otherwise discharged as the law 
directs. And the said sheriff" is hereby empowered to raise and 
take with him such power of his county as he shall think fit for 
the apprehension of said slaves. And we do hereby, by virtue 
of an act of the Assembly of this state, concerning servants 
and slaves, intimate and declare, if the said slaves do not sur- 
render themselves, and return home to their master immediately 
after the publication of these presents, t/ia^ any person may kill 
and destroy said slaves by such j?ieans as he or they think Jit, 
without accusation or impeachment of any crime or offence for 
so doing, or without incurring any penalty or forfeiture there- 
by. 

"Given under our hands and seals, this 1 2th of November, 
1836. B. Coleman, J. P. [Seal.] 

Jas. Jones, J, P." [Seal.] 

200 DOLLARS REWARD.— Ran away from the subscriber, 
about three years ago, a certain negro man named Ben (com- 
monly known by the name of Ben Fox). Also one other negro, 
by the name of Rigdon, who ran away on the 8th of this month. 

I will give the reward of one hundred dollars for each of the 
above negroes, to be delivered to me or confined in the jail of 
Lenoir or Jones county, ox for the killing of them, so that I can 
see them. ' W. D. COBB. 

November 12, 1836. 

I will only add, in this connection, that these atrocious 
outrages were mostly perpetrated under the sanctions of 
American law ; and in no solitary instance have the per- 
petrators been brotight to condign punishment. Indeed, 
they are but the legitimate offspring of the slave system, 



71 

and are inseparable from it. And yet Prof. Stuart tells 
us that that system " may exist, and that, too, without 
violating the Christian faith ;" and the Hoii. Edward Ev- 
erett (a church member), once, on the floor of Congress, 
volunteered military aid in its defence. " Sir," said he, 
addressing the speaker, " I am no soldier. My habits and 
education are very unmilitary. Hut there is no cause in 
which I would sooner buckle a knapsack on my back, and 
put a musket on my shoulder, than tnat of putting down 
a servile insurrection at the South. * * * Domestic 
slavery is not, in my judgment, to be set down as an im- 
moral or irreligious relation." 

I have now done with the proof which I intend to pre- 
sent in support of my first charge, and come to the 
second, which is. " That the Methodist Episcopal church 
is more corrupt than any house of ill-fame in the city of 
New York." To convince you of the truth of this charge 
will require no labored argument. The case needs but to 
be stated, to be fully proved. Those dejis of infam> in 
New York, where the libertine resorts to satiate his de- 
praved desires, are tenanted by women who devote them- 
selves to purposes of prostitution. But are these aban- 
doned characters compelled to lives of infamy and crime? 
Ts there for them no escape from the paths of vice ? Can 
they not, on the other hand, change their course, and lead 
a virtuous life, whenever they choose to do so? But in 
the Methodist Church there are 50,000 women who are 
inevitably doomed to lives of prostitution. With them 
there is no alternative. They are sold in the market for 
the domestic Sekagho, — they are the "Bkkedkus ' on 
the plantation, and are compelled, on pain of cruel 
scourging, and even death, to submit to their owners' 
wishes, whatever they may be ! And yet this churcli has 
assured us, through its highest ecclesiastical trii)unal, by 
a vote of 120 to 14, that it has " no wish or intention to 
interfere in their civil and political relations /" It would 
not place them in a situation where their virtue would be 
secure against the brutal marauder, if it could ! The 
church, as a body, sanctions, and great numbers of its 
members perpetrate on their slaves, the very crime 
which the laws of your state punish with death ! 

My third charge is, " That the Southern ministers of 
the Methodist Episcopal church are desirous of perpetu- 
ating slavery, for the purpose of supplying themselves 
with concubines from among its hapless victims." From 
the nature of the case, the proof of this allegation must 
necessarily be circumstantial. But it is not, on that ac- 



72 

count, the less satisfactory ; for men never act but from 
motives ; and the actions are a sure index to the state of 
the heart. The tree is known by its fruit. In charging 
the Southern ministry with a desire to perpetuate slavery 
for the purpose of supplying themselves with concubines, 
1 do not assert that this is their only motive in supporting 
it, but that it is a motive ! 

Now, that these men are desirous of perpetuating slav- 
ery, there can be no manner of doubt; for they tell us 
plainly that they have )io wish to see it abolished. They 
must, therefore, have some motive in wishing to perpetu- 
ate it. That motive, surely, cannot be a sincere desire 
to spread the knowledge of Jesus Christ, and the tri- 
umphs of his kingdom ; nor can it be love of wealth, — 
that master passion of the human breast, — for slavery is 
fast bankrupting the whole South. Nor is it found in 
their love of reputation, nor yet in their regard for the 
quietude of domestic life ; for these would both be greatly 
enhanced by the abolition of slavery. It is, doubtless, 
found in part, however, in their love of power ; but is 
this their only inducement ? Is it from a desire of dom- 
ination alone that they sustain a system which their 
founder denounced as the "sum of all villanies," and 
which is fast filling the land with pauperism, ignorance, 
and crime? That surely cannot be. There is a stronger 
motive in this matter than the love of power; and that 
motive is revealed to us in the history of the private 
morals of our Northern clergy. If Northern ministers 
possess such strong predilections for adultery and concu- 
binage, as the painful disclosures of the few past years 
force us to believe, hedged about as they are, on every 
side with the safeguards of virtue ; if they are often will- 
ing to hazard the loss of reputation, and even the dis- 
grace and sufferings of incarceration in the state peniten- 
tiary, to gratify those predilections. — is it not natural to 
suppose, nay, is it not morally certain, that the Southern 
clergy, nursed as they have been in the very hotbeds of 
pollution, would be anxious to perpetuate a system which 
affords them ample scope for indulgence, without danger, 
or even the fear of disgrace ? That such is the fact, is 
abundantly proved by the adoption, by the General Con- 
ference of 1840, of the resolution denying to persons of 
color " the right to testify against white persons, in cases 
of church discipline." Pending a motion to reconsider 
that infamous resolution, the strongest remonstrances 
were urged against it by Southern ministers, who even 
went so far as to threaten a dissolution of the church, if 



74 



the conduct of many of the American clergy, and the Al- 
gerine pirates. Look on the darkest page of :\Ioorish 
history, and tell me, has the Algerine ever sold his sister 
of the same faith for a " Ijkkedeii " to "stock "the 
plantation f)f her haughty proprietor with human cattle, 
perchance the offspring of his own V)ody? Has he ship- 
ped his brother Algerine to a foreign' realm, and sold 
hini for a galley-slave, to one of a religion dittVriiig fioui 
his own ? Has he denied to a portion "of his own countrv- 
men the right to read the Koran (his Bible), and sold those 
countrymen into slavery to raise funds to send that same 
Koran to those who were ignorant of its contents in other 
lands ? Has he ever claimed the wife and daughters of his 
Mahometan brother as his properly? Has he robbed the 
frantic mother of her babe, and with the price of that 
babe's body and soul replenished his communion cup? 
Kay, has he even compelled the heart-broken mother, if 
she observe the ordinances of her religion at all, to drhik 
fiom that cuf> the wine which was purchased with her 
own child's blood? Such enormities even the tongue of 
calumiiy dares not impute to the Algerine pirate, iifa sol- 
itary instance. And yet they are the settled policy of no 
inconsiderable portion of the American clergy \ They 
stain and darken almost every page of the modern history 
of the American church ; and if generally known, they 
would render that church a stench'in the nostrils of the 
heathen of every realm on the globe! 

My task is done. iMy pledge is redeemed. I have liere 
drawn a true but painful pictiire of the American church 
and clergy. I have proved them to be a rhotherhood 
OF thieves! I have shown that multitudes of them 
subsist by uoHREUY and make theft their tiade !— that 
they plunder the cradle of its precious contents, and rob 
the youthful lover of his bride !— that they steal " from 
princii)lc," and teach their people that slavery "is not 
9Pposed to the will of God," but "is a merciful visit- 
ation !"— that they excite the mob to deeds of violence, 
and advocate Ly.N'cii law for the sui)pression of the 
sacied right of speech !— 1 Jiave shown that they sell 
their own sisters in the cliurch for the Seraglio", and 
invest the proceeds of their sales in Bibles for the 
heathen !— that they rob tlie forlorn and despairing 
mother of her l)ai)e. aiul barter away that babe to the 
vintner for wine for the Lord's supper! I have shown 
that nearly all of them ler/n/lze slavery, with all its bar- 
barous, bitter, burning wrongs, and make Piracy lawful 
and honorable con)merce; and that they dignify slave- 



73 

the resolution should be rescmded. I must give you a 
specimen of their expostulations. They betray a sensitive- 
ness and warmth of feeling, as you will perceive, which 
no other question has ever called forth. 

The Rev. William Winans, of Mississippi, said,— 

" He was never more deeply impressed with the solemnity of 
his situation — the act of this afternoon will determine the fate of 
our beloved Zion ! * * * * If you wrest from us that 
resolution, you stab us to the vitals t * ♦ ♦ * Repeal that 
resolution, and you pass the Rubicon ! Dear as union is, sir, 
there are interests at stake in this question which are dearer 
than union ! Do not regard us as threatening i * * * * But 
what will become of our beloved Methodism? The interests of 
Methodism throughout the whole South are at stake ! " 

The Rev. Mr. Collins, of , 

"Admonished the Conference, that the moment they rescinded 
that resolution, they passed the Rubicon. The fate of the con- 
nection was sealed." 

The Rev. William Smith, of Virginia, 

"Agreed with the brother from Mississippi, that there were 
interests involved in this question dearer than UNION itself, 
however dear that might be. Southerners are not prepared 
to commit their interests, much less their consciences, to the 
holy keeping of Northern men. Conscience was involved in 
this matter, and they could not be coerced." 

WTience, I ask, is this mortal fear of colored testimony? 
Whv do the clergy see in it a dagger, that will " stab 
thein to the vitals T What evil have they done, that they 
would sooner see the " UniOxN itself " dissolved than per- 
mit their sister, whom Christ has washed and cleansed in 
his own blood, to give utterance to her thoughts, in an 
assembly of his saints? AVhat mighty truth lies hidden 
in the bosom of the slave, that needs but to be revealed 
to explode the church — " determine the fate of our be- 
loved Zion "—and blast the rising "interests of Method- 
ism, throughout the whole South?" But one answer can 
be given to this question, and that answer abundantly 
confirms the truth of my charge. 

I come now to the last charge in the long catalogue of 
allegations which I have made against the American 
church and clergy. It is this—" That many of our 
clergy are guilty of enormities that would disgrace an 
Algei'ine pirate."^ And needs this allegation any further 
proof, after the appalling developments which 1 have 
already made ? If so, I challenge a comparison between 



75 

holding, and render it popular, by placing Man-stealkrs 
in the Presidential chair ! I have shown that those who 
tlieniselves abstain from these enormities, are in church 
fellowship with those who perpetrate them; and that, by 
this connection, they countenance the wrong, and 
strengthen the hands of the oppressor ! I "have shown 
that while with their lips they profess to believe that Lib- 
KKTY is God's free and impartial gift to all, and that it is 
" inalienable," they hold 2,r)()0,00 i of their own country- 
men in the most abject bondage; thus proving to the 
world, that they are not Injideh merely, but blank Athk- 
isTs — disbelievers in the existence of a Ood who will 
hold then) accountable for their actions! Those allega- 
tions are all supported i)y evidence which none can con- 
trovert, and whicii no impartial mind can doubt. The 
truth of them is seen on every page of our country's his- 
tory ; and it is deeply fell by more than two millions of 
our enchained countrymen, who now demand their plun- 
dert'd rights at their "hands. In making thi^ heart-rend- 
ing and ai)pairmg disclosure of their hypocrisy and crimes, 
I have spoken with great plainness, and at times with 
great severity ; but it is the severity of truth and love. 
1 have said tJiat only which I couM not in kindness with- 
hold ! and in discharging the painful duty which devolved 
upon me in this regard, I have had but a single object in 
view — the redemption of the oppressor from his (luiU, 
and the oppressed from his chains. To this darling ob- 
ject of my heart, this letter is now dedicated. As it goes 
out through you, to the public, a voice of terrible warn- 
ing atid admonition to the guilty oppressor, but of con- 
solation, as I trust, to the despairing slave, I only ask for it, 
that it may be received with the same kindness, and read 
with the same candor, in which it has been written. 
With great respect and affection, 

Your sincere friend, 

S. S. FOSTER. 
Canterbury, X. II., July. 1843. 



NOTE BY THE PUBLISHER. 



This edition of one of the most remarkable produc- 
tions ill Anti-Slavery literature, is a perfect fac simile of 
those of forty years ago. The very few more pages are 
the result of a slight difference in the type used, and not 
of one added or altered word. The work was stereotyped 
and passed through twenty editions ; so that more than 
twenty thousand copies were scattered through the coun- 
try. With what effect will hardly be questioned by any 
who give it attentive and thoughtful perusal. The gen- 
erous contributions of a very few persons at the West 
and in Massachusetts, have made the present edition pos- 
eible. Its necessity is but too apparent from the fact 
that so many of the clergy to-day claim that they, or 
their predecessors, abolished slavery, and could have 
sooner done it had Garrison and his fanatical and injidel 
folloicing been out of their way ! This Tract, an invulner- 
able array of argument and fact, will show, as with noon- 
day sunlight, just what sort of church and clergy we had 
in the early and later Anti-Slavery days. Whoever 
would pursue the subject farther, should purchase and 
peruse Thk Acts of the Anti-Slavery Apostles, by 
Parker Pillsbury ; to be had of the author, at Concord, 
N. H. Price, one dollar and fifty cents. A limited num- 
ber of this Pamphlet may also be had by same applica- 
tion — five copies for one dollar ; single copies, twenty -five 
cents. 



54 IT 



1 



Reader, are you a member of either of the great 
religious sects of the country? or, in other words, do 
you belong to the " Brotherhood of Thieves ?" If so, 
quit, I entreat you, this unfortunate and inglorious con- 
nection ! " Come out from among them, and touich not 
the unclean thing;" and henceforth "enter not into their 
counsels." Turn your back upon the church, and repu- 
diate your allegiance to their government ; for they have 
conspired together for the enslavement of a sixth portion 
of your countrymen I You cannot retain connection 
with either without giving character and countenance to 
slavery, and thereby involving yourself in its enormous 
guilt. God and the good of every nation abhor such 
connection, and it is most disgraceful to yourself. 
Would you join a church whose mem))ers legalized 
horse-stealing ? Would you enter into political relations 
with freebooters, pledging them aid and protection, and 
uniting your destinies with theirs, botU in peace and in 
war? If not, then separate yourself from the political 
and ecclesiastical institutions of the country, and become 
an abolitionist indeed ! Too long already have you 
upheld the hand which holds the lash ! Too long have 
you quieted the guilty conscience of the enslaver ! Too 
long have you dishonored yourself by standing before 
the world in political and ecclesiastical fellowship and 
alliance with the worst enemies of the human race ! 
Quit, then, your unnatural and unmanly position, and 
enlist heart, and hand, in the glorious moral revolution 
which is now sweeping over the land like a mighty 
tornado, and whose motto is, " No Union with Slave- 
holders I" s. s. F. 



Sasssas 



g.^_.o-^. 





















i« « 






* • M "^ 






..♦ 



\' <i.^ 






